Don't Steal My Sunglasses
by Ari Eli
Summary: [COMPLETE] [Sequel is currently discontinued/in an infinite hiatus. I may return to it someday with a total rewrite, but right now I don't see that happening. Sorry!] Originally a twoshot of a little skirmish that I imagined could take place before the group goes to Gagazet. Rikku is bored... rated T because I'm a coward. Aurikku, don't like it, don't read it, okay?
1. Things Get Ugly When You're Bored

A random plotbunny-influenced story that I decided to write. Enjoy, all!

As it said in the summary, **it's ever so slightly Aurikku**. No likie, no readie, okai?

Disclaimer- You know the drill. I don't own FFX… (sniffcrysob)

* * *

Rikku couldn't remember _ever_ being so bored in her life.

The Guardians were currently camped out near some small clearing in a forest near the base of Mt. Gagazet- a nice, fluffy clearing, she added to herself, perfect for camping- and absolutely no one had said a word since all of the camp-related duties had been fulfilled, such as, "Tidus, go get some firewood," or "Yuna, wouldn't it be best to heal everyone now?"

Rikku had become accustomed to at least _some_ conversation during their rest stops, maybe even an argument or two, but she heard nothing from where she sat away from the edge of the camp circle, cross-legged and arms folded.

Funny, she mused, she usually wasn't the one to keep to herself and be antisocial. No, that was the man of few words wearing the red coat that was positioned near the new campfire, in the process of tossing a chunk of wood in. She really didn't understand why he was so withdrawn all the time.

She also didn't understand why they needed a campfire when she sighed and lifted her swirling emerald eyes to survey the sky; even sunset was still an hour or two off.

Force of habit, maybe? It was only when Lulu produced the sack of food they carried that she gave herself a mental slap.

Duh…food. The fire flared hungrily over Auron's generous addition of wood, and her stomach roared in spite of herself. She squirmed where she sat in frustration. Okay…she was bored, and now she was hungry? Worst. Combination. EVER.

She didn't realize that she had been directing all of her glares at Auron until she noticed how he adjusted his sunglasses. Why she would notice such a trivial thing she had no clue, but it nevertheless allowed an idea to slither its way into her head. She gave a devilish grin as she stood up to approach the group. She now had a solution to he problems…or one of them, at least.

"Hiya, Mr. Grumpy," she said as she stopped behind the big man. Auron turned around to stare at her, blinking. Why must she insist on calling him that? "Watcha doin?"

"See for yourself." He returned to prodding the firewood with a stick, over which sat a makeshift pan with several mouth-watering slabs of meat sizzling away.

"You okay, Rikku?" Tidus asked. "You seemed sort of mad, sitting by yourself back there."

"It appeared as though you were giving me most of your glares," Auron noted absently to her surprise. How'd he know that?! _She_ hadn't even known, herself! "Have I done something to upset you?"

That caught everyone off guard. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice everyone's wide stares until someone coughed awkwardly. Apparently he didn't know what he was saying, either. He looked up. "What?" He asked all of them, and Rikku decided to save him the effort.

"Oh, no. I'm fine! Just a little bored, is all."

Auron grunted in response and faded into his own world again, musing, probably. He was yanked out of it, however, when Rikku reached around his shoulders and to his face, grabbing his sunglasses and lifting them off. He let out an exclamation of surprise and whipped around to stare at her again as she examined them. The others watched in utter amusement.

"I wonder how these would look on me," Rikku asked no one in particular, slipping them on. Auron blinked. They didn't look half bad on her, he thought. Wait, _what_? He pushed the similar following thoughts away and held out his unbound hand.

"All right. You've tried them on, now give them back," he said, raising an eyebrow when Rikku took a small step back and her mischievous grin broadened, if that was humanely possible. It suddenly occurred to Auron that she had no intention of doing such a thing. He stood up, russet eye narrowing. Rikku lowered the sunglasses so she could look at him over the rims, then took them off completely and held them out.

"Come and get them!" she challenged, jerking them back when his hand shot forward like a viper to claim them. She laughed and tossed them to Tidus, who caught them easily.

"Keep Away?" he asked. "Sounds like fun! I'm in!"

He saw Auron coming his way with an infuriated look on his face.

"Over here, brudda!" Wakka had gotten up to join the fun, so Tidus threw them past the legendary guardian to the redhead.

"Is that was this is?" Auron queried as he charged toward the blitzball player. "A _game_?"

Wakka hurled the sunglasses back at Rikku, and he stopped and faced her.

"Yup!" she said. Tidus leaped up and assumed his position so that they now formed a wide triangle around the man. Yuna giggled loudly, causing them to look at her.

"That looks like fun!" she said, practically jumping up to join them.

"Lady Yuna," Auron began, aghast and annoyed. "Not you too!"

"As soon as Sir Auron retrieves his sunglasses, we eat!"

"Yay Yunie!" Rikku cheered. Auron took the distraction as an opening and took off at a dead run toward her, freeing his other arm on the way. When she saw him she squealed and chucked the sunglasses to Yuna, who caught them a little less gracefully than the others. Auron had to stop a few feet from the Al Bhed girl to avoid plowing into her.

"Are you joining us, Lulu?" she asked the mage. She chuckled.

"I'm afraid not," she replied, crimson eyes filled to the brim with amusement.

"Thank you!" Auron said.

"But feel free to toss it here if you need to."

Yuna squeaked at the sight of the one man stampede coming toward her and threw the sunglasses predictably to Tidus, so Auron quickly pivoted and took off toward the blonde, determined to get there before he could catch them. Or just after, as it ended up being. He crashed into him just as he caught them, causing the boy to fly back and drop the sunglasses. As he reached down to pick them up, Wakka sped by and snatched them from the ground, taking off. Tidus groaned comically as he sat up.

"Hey, that hurt, old man!" he said.

"Don't be a crybaby," the "old man" said as he launched himself after Wakka. Tidus blinked. Auron had been smiling! Not the "idiot, _please_," smile he usually gave, either. It even reached his eyes! That was about as uncommon as a chocobo willingly running into a wall.

Wakka suddenly found himself having to sprint faster as Auron caught up to him.

"Wakka," he warned, "Give them back!"

"Not a chance, bud! Yuna!" Wakka tossed them over to Yuna, who grinned as she caught them a little more gracefully this time. That's when Auron stopped, still smiling himself.

"You can't have your fun if I don't chase after you." He stated simply.

"Huh??" The others seriously pouted.

"Come on, Auron! Lighten up!" Rikku urged. They heard Lulu chuckle again behind them as she watched the charade.

"Yes, Sir Auron. When's the last time you've had actual fun like this?"

"You think this is fun to me?" he asked thinking he knew the answer, voice slightly incredulous. Deep down, they all knew he was lying. He was cut off from whatever he was about to say next when, with a mock savage cry, Tidus leaped onto him. Somehow he remained standing, however startled he was.

"Yuna, run!" he pleaded dramatically. "I'll handle the monster!"

Yuna suppressed a giggle. "But I can't just leave you!" she cried just as comically.

"It doesn't matter! Run! Save yourseeeeeeellllf!!!"

Yuna sauntered over to Rikku and secretly handed her the glasses, smiling as she watched the two struggle.

Auron burst out laughing as he began to shake Tidus off, and _everyone's_ eyes widened. Again, this hadn't been the short grunt of a laugh that he gave in response to someone doing something stupid. No, this was "hey,-I'm-having-fun-so-I-think-I'll-crack-up" laughter.

The sound was absolutely foreign, coming from him. He took the momentary diversion to shove Tidus off of him and calm himself, raking a slightly embarrassed hand through his hair. Tidus sat up, chuckling.

"Well, that's new!" he said, earning the old, normal laugh from the swordsman. Before he could resume the chase, however, Lulu cut in.

"I'm feeling a little left out," she said, and suddenly there was a bright flash of light. When it died, Auron saw that each Guardian- excluding Kimahri- held a pair of his sunglasses.

"Illusions?" he asked the black mage, "That's hardly fair."

"'Life isn't always fair,'" she answered. "I believe that was one of your quotes, no?"

Auron ignored her comment and turned slowly in a circle, carefully studying each pair. When he was done, a playful- _playful_!- smile began to creep its way onto his face. He strode slowly over to Tidus.

"It seems you've made a mistake," he said to Lulu, who raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"Your illusion isn't quite right," he said, gesturing to the pair that Tidus held. "The bridge on my real sunglasses is not merely an arch, but an X."

Lulu referred to her little collection of memories including the man, and she realized that he was right.

"So," he continued, "Tidus can't have them. Neither can you, nor Yuna or Wakka."

Rikku paled. How had he figured it out so fast?! Now _that_ wasn't fair!

"That only leaves…"

He turned to Rikku and sprung toward her at a full run, and she turned away and did the same. Even though she had the advantage of speed, the warrior monk was catching up to her! She closed her eyes and willed her body to run faster, not worrying about passing the glasses to someone else. She argued with herself on whether or not to turn around and see if he was right behind her. Temptation won over, however, and she turned around and began to run backwards- something she was very good at.

Or..so she thought.

With a grunt, Auron launched himself straight at her. She was so startled at the sight that she lost her footing and began to fall, almost losing the sunglasses. Auron's eye widened as he realized where they were going to end up, and he held out his hands so that when he hit the ground he wouldn't completely crush her.

Before they knew it, Rikku was on her back with Auron above her, who was wincing from the jolt that came with accurately catching yourself with your arms in a fall. The Al Bhed stared up at him as he recovered his wits, then he returned her gaze with as much surprise as she gave. Her heart was pounding, and not just because of the exercise.

"Umm…" she murmured, "Would you mind getting off? You're crushing me." She was even more surprised by how steady her voice was. He blinked, being jerked from his own world again, then scrambled off of her. She thought she detected a flush on his face when he helped her up. She held out his sunglasses when he reached for and took them, putting them back on gingerly. He then ducked his head a little, as if retreating inside of his collar. He _had_ been blushing! Of course _her_ face felt so hot it must have been crimson at the moment, but _Auron_? _Blushing_?? She never thought she'd see the day! But what was that supposed to mean?

"That was quite the fall," Lulu said as she and the other guardians walked over. Rikku suddenly realized that her hip was aching, and reached back a hand to rub it.

"Oww…yeah." She waited for Auron to ask he if she was all right, but when he was silent she gave up. Hey, he had acted concerned before; it had been worth the try. He turned to angle himself away from her even more.

Yuna was still giggling. "That was fun!" she remarked. "I think some of us needed that."

It was clear who the "some of us" referred to. Auron had begun to make his way back to the campfire followed by the others when Tidus rushed past him, snatching the sunglasses off again. The warrior growled.

"Tidus!"

He was already trying them on the way Rikku had when they reached him at the campfire; they didn't have the same effect as they did on Rikku, though. On him, the sunglasses just looked…strange. Auron frowned, voicing his name in warning. He reached into his coat and produced a sphere.

"If you don't give those back, I'll show everyone this video," he threatened. Tidus's eyes widened in alarm.

"What's on it?!"

"Nothing of value. Just a recording of you when you were little, doing something reckless."

He didn't like the sound of that at all; he hastily returned the sunglasses.

"What? A sphere of Tidus when he was little? I wanna see!" Yuna pleaded. Auron handed her the sphere.

"What?! You said you wouldn't show them!!"

"I said no such thing; that's what you get for stealing my sunglasses again. Plus, this will pay off for all the times you've irked me."

Tidus groaned loudly as everyone including him and excluding Auron huddled around the sphere, and the recording began to play.

* * *

Here's the line between the humor and angst/sadness in this twoshot, in case anyone was confused by that. You could pretend that the sphere merely showed Tidus wetting himself or running in triangles and stop here, leaving the previous humor to last. Or curiosity could win you over, and you could head to the next chapter and find out what _I_ intended the sphere to play, your curiosity possibly killing the humor. That's right: curiosity doesn't really kill cats! (Le gasp!)

Either way, you're free to choose. Now I ask you: what to do, what to do?

Hehe…I've made an impasse! Doncha just luff me?

Ari Elisianete


	2. When Payback Goes Too Far

Again I warn you. I'm serious; this next chapter could kill the humor in the previous chapter. Why? Because I've had a question buzzing around in my head for a long time, and I was trying to find an answer. When I couldn't find one, I decided to make up my own. It's like the Auron's sake jug mystery; we make up our own theories…

I won't repeat myself again, people. Read on at the risk of killing the cat- I mean, humor.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX, but I do own this fanfic's plot! Yay me!

* * *

The sphere fizzed to life and began to play.

It showed Auron and little Tidus standing in a sea of people, who were mostly dressed in black. This included Tidus, who was actually wearing a tuxedo. The majority of the people wore the same, while others wore what looked like Jecht's colors- excluding Auron, of course, who wore his normal attire. Whoever was filming was elevated, for it showed the view slightly looking down.

"Aww!" Yuna and Rikku cooed. "Look at Tidus in his cute little tuxedo! Why do you and Sir Auron look so sad, though?"

"_What_?" Auron exclaimed. The only time he had ever seen Tidus wearing a tux was when…

"Auron…?" The current Tidus looked up at him, eyes wide in horror.

"Yuna, stop the sphere," Auron hastily ordered.

"But he looks so cuuuuute!" she protested, followed by an agreeing nod from Lulu and Rikku.

"Please, Yuna. You don't understand; that's not the right sphere. That's-"

"Is that…wait, is that a coffin?" Lulu asked. The camera had swung around to show a man standing next to a coffin on an elevated platform. Auron's heart plummeted as the audio began to play.

"We are gathered here today to mourn and honor the death of Jecht's beloved wife…"

A few of the guardians gave a small gasp, and the real Tidus's jaw dropped. The camera swung around again and zoomed in on Tidus and Auron. Whoever was filming had a very steady hand; they must have been professional.

Auron's gaze was locked on the man on the platform, sadness piercing his usually passive stare. Tidus's eyes were to the floor, and the boy shivered. Auron turned his gaze to him. It soon became apparent that Tidus was holding back sobs, but it was no use; tears began to flow down his face. He ran to Auron's side, clutching his red coat and crying against his hip. At first Auron's functional eye darted about, unsure of what to do. Then he turned and put his hands on the boy's shoulders, squatting to lower himself to his height. He began to speak, but the sphere's audio recorder didn't catch it. When he was done young Tidus shook his head violently and gave a short reply. Auron looked taken aback, but shook _his_ head and began to speak again, looking like he was trying to make the kid understand something.

Tidus then yelled loudly enough for the audio to catch.

"I don't care!" he screamed. "I hate him!!"

He rushed forward and buried his face in Auron's chest as the crying started again. Auron looked a little hurt for a second, but nevertheless he wrapped his arms around the boy, patting his back in an attempt to offer comfort while Tidus shed his tears. The warrior then looked up, noticing that it was beginning to rain.

Whoever had been filming had seen it fit to end the recording, and the Guardians sat back, dazed. They had just seen the soft side of Auron that they didn't even know existed. When they looked back up at him, he had a hand to his forehead in what the recognized as shame. Tidus stood up angrily and stormed over to him, taking a fistful of his coat. Auron let his hand fall and looked away.

"Why do you have something like that?!" the blonde demanded, trying to shake him like he had in Luca. "Answer me!"

Auron refused to meet his gaze- another thing Rikku thought she would never see. It was sort of strange seeing the two men side by side, now that they had seen the littler version of Tidus for themselves. The boy had changed so much while Auron hadn't changed at all, except for the scar over his right eye looked a lot less fresh. Over time, she had begun to wonder how the warrior monk had acted toward Tidus when he was little, and the Al Bhed had guessed at first that he had been harsh and cold. But then she saw the person that Tidus was today, and knew that that couldn't be. Tidus wouldn't be such a softy today if Auron hadn't showed him the kindness that a child his age had required. Okay, Auron had his soft side, but how to exploit it?

Wait, _what_??

"Answer me, damn it!"

Auron said nothing, and Tidus gave an exasperated growl, making Rikku feel sorry for him.

"At least tell me where you got this, old man."

"A man employed by the press shot the video," Auron said. "When I discovered that he had, I followed him to the press's headquarters, which I was forced to storm before they made a copy of it and readied it to broadcast."

"What, would you die of embarrassment if the video got out?"

"No," Auron replied, "I knew that you would be watching the blitzball games that night, and with the blitzball games they always showed small news clips. Protecting the son of a star from himself is…difficult."

Tidus blinked as realization struck him. Auron hadn't wanted him to see himself cry, because that would have been technically the worst thing for him at the time.

Meanwhile, the Guardians watched the exchange with sorrow. They all wanted to quietly slip away to leave them alone, but this was sort of their _camp_. Except for Rikku, of course. She wanted to stay and see all of it.

"I was successful, if you remember. You never saw a thing." The corners of his mouth twitched in a smile so small that Tidus wasn't sure if it had been there at all.

"So why do you still have it?" he queried. Auron gave a long pause.

"To remind me of the promises I've made."

Rikku honestly wondered what he meant by that. Promises?

Tidus released his grip on Auron's coat, allowing him to turn away.

"I'm sorry you had to see it that way," he said. "I was planning to show it to you once you were old enough to take it in stride, but apparently you're still not at the appropriate age."

Without another word, Auron strode off into the forest, disappearing almost immediately.

And to think that he had been smiling only moments ago…

"Why's Sir Auron acting so different, lately?" Yuna asked.

"Auron remember things that make Auron sad," Kimahri answered.

"Huh?" Rikku cut in. "But wasn't he all smiles just a second ago, however rare that is?"

"Auron run away."

She suddenly understood: Auron was running away from his memories, but that was hard to do when two of them were standing right in front of you. Apparently Tidus got the idea too, because he sat down and sulked.

"I don't get it," he said, "What's so special about my old man and Yuna's old man that gets him so upset?"

Lulu turned to glance at Mt. Gagazet which loomed off in the distance, and the others followed her gaze. Beyond that was Zanarkand, where Tidus claimed to be from.

"We'll find out soon, won't we?" Rikku asked slowly in grim anticipation. When they all turned back around, they groaned at the fact that their food was now blackened beyond edible.

* * *

I killed the humor, huh? Well, this helped me answer a few questions of my own. One: did they have a funeral for the blitzball star's wife? And two: how did Auron behave toward Tidus when he was little?

My answers: One: Yeah. He's a star who disappeared, and his wife just died. Why wouldn't that end up on the news, or at least deserve a funeral?

Two: Auron _had_ to have been soft to the kid. If he had been harsh like he is to others, then Tidus would have grown up to have a harder heart instead of being the crybaby (smirk) he was during the pilgrimage. Plus, he shows that he actually cares when they meet up in Luca and Auron tells him about Sin, and Tidus turns away (after freaking out, of course). He puts a hand on his shoulder and tells him, "It's alright."

So _there_! Hehe…don't you just love it when the hyper plotbunnies and the depressed plotbunnies mix?

Ari Elisianete


	3. He Talks!

Okay, this is going into full Aurikku. Just thought I'd let you know. It might go from now on in a form of Rikku's POV, not first person though. I don't know.

Disclaimer: Don't own him, don't own her, etc etc etc.

* * *

They quickly replaced their blackened dinner with new strips of meat, groaning in frustration at its intoxicating smell.

"Maybe it's just the fact that we're close to Zanarkand," Yuna suggested after a while, fifteen minutes to be anywhere close to exact. Tidus looked up.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Maybe."

Rikku didn't want to hear the word "Zanarkand" at the moment. In her opinion, anything would be better than hearing the others discuss that place. She stood up and began to head off in the direction that Auron had taken.

"Where ya goin?" Wakka asked. She stopped and shrugged.

"To go find Auron, I guess." No one questioned it; the man had to eat sometime, and the food would probably be done by the time Rikku was able to convince him to return. She disappeared behind a group of trees, and Tidus smiled.

"How many minutes will it take for Auron to kill her?" he wondered.

Everyone gave him blank looks-- no one wanted to joke, now. He sniffed.

"Fine, be that way."

* * *

Rikku wandered aimlessly in a straight line, only deviating from it to avoid running into trees and other potentially hazardous objects, scanning the area all the while. She hasn't wandered long before she saw a blot of red to her left, partially hidden by an oak.

"Hiya," she called to him as she rounded the tree and stood at his front. He was just sitting there with his back up against it, looking…restful. Auron looked up, keeping his face smooth to hide the fact that he was now very annoyed with Al Bhed for stepping over him to sit down to his left instead of simply leaving.

But then she stayed silent, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise. Usually she would burst into attempted conversation with him, at which he would remain quiet or give a short answer to to immediately end it. But she was actually being _silent_ now.

She was waiting until he was ready to speak, he realized. Knowing that, he went back to his previous state of peace. _If she is still here by the time I decide to talk, then I _will_ talk,_ he promised.

And so around 15 minutes of silence passed, around 14 minutes and 30 seconds more than the girl had ever been able to keep quiet. He opened his eye again to find her staring patiently up at his looming figure, waiting. If she was willing to stay this long, then he might as well indulge her.

"So what did you mean by 'the promises that you've made?'" she asked before he could say anything. How had she known that he had been about to, anyway? Oh well. He'd promised to answer her questions.

"I promised Braska that I would take care of Yuna, and I promised Jecht that I would watch over Tidus while he grew," he said simply. "Though, it didn't exactly play out in that order."

"Oooh." Rikku was surprised at how willingly he was talking to her. He seemed to have forgotten the skirmish that had taken place only moments ago, too. She would have to tread carefully in this new territory—this chance was a rare one, and by asking the wrong question it could easily slip away. She thought a moment before speaking again.

"What's your favorite color?"

He gave her a funny look before answering. "Black."

Heh, she had to have at least one random question there. But now to the important stuff.

"Okay, I understand how Braska died, but how did Tidus's dad die, huh?"

Auron shook his head, most likely convincing himself not to explain. "You will find out once we reach Zanarkand." Okay, definitely convincing himself not to explain.

"Is that why you're acting so weird all of a sudden?" she asked. When he tensed, she realized that that she had gone too far. "Sorry. I mean, it has to have something to do with them, right?"

He turned his head away, and for a moment she assumed that he wasn't going to answer. But with the answer he gave, she really wished that he had just kept his reply.

"Rikku..have you ever watched someone die?"

She could have gaped. She could have, but she didn't, because she had indeed watched someone die before.

"Yeah," she replied, he voice barely above a whisper, "My mom."

His russet eye met her emerald spirals as she continued. "A machina malfunctioned one day, and my mom happened to be in the way of its rampage, you know? It sort of leaned down and swallowed her up, and all of a sudden there was this grinding sound and—"

She stopped at the look he was giving her and frowned, for some reason wanting to apologize for explaining that vividly. "But it would have gotten me too if Pops hadn't carried me out of the way."

Auron seemed especially grim at that moment. "What did you do?"

"Well, what do you think I did? I was little. I didn't understand the fact that my mom was gone, you know? So for a while I went without knowing that it was my mom that had screamed like that, but when I finally found out…I remember I couldn't stop crying. I cried for weeks and weeks, and then all of a sudden I just couldn't cry anymore."

She paused. "Why would you ask?"

She was suddenly free from his piercing gaze when he closed his eye. "When Jecht and Braska died, I…"

He trailed off, unsure if he should continue. "That's it, isn't it?" Rikku asked. "You're about to see Yunie die the same way her dad did."

His brows drew together, and she knew she was right. "Why don't you stop her, then? Why let her go on with this? It's stupid that she has to die just to give Spira a fake chance at peace. Why don't you _do_ something?"

In one fluid motion he was standing, offering a hand to help her up. "That's enough."

She glanced from his hand to his passive expression and back before taking it and letting him pull her to a stand. He started to walk off without her.

"Auron…"

He stopped.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean for my questions to get that personal."

He turned, his eye penetrating her very soul and laying out all of her thoughts and memories for his judgment. "Let's go."

She followed him as he led the way, and an uncomfortable silence began to work its way into the air.

* * *

The others were right in their prediction pertaining to the food—as soon as it looked perfectly cooked, Auron and Rikku came into sight. Rikku's hands were folded behind her back and she was hunched over a little, meaning she was embarrassed or guilty. And, as usual, no one could tell how Auron felt. They sat down, and everyone stared at him when Auron refused his share. Tidus instantly offered to take it, but Auron handed the meat to Rikku, who he knew fell asleep faster when she was fuller. She took it, giving him a look as he faded into his own thoughts.

The man seemed off the whole rest of the evening, and as a result no one asked anything of him for fear he would retaliate. Rikku even kept her distance. She knew that she had sent his mind spinning, but she couldn't figure out why. And she would have given anything to find out what he was thinking at that moment. The only thing he said for the rest of that day came when everyone was lying down to sleep.

"We leave for Mount Gagazet in the morning."

Everyone nodded in quiet acknowledgement, the descended into cold, black dreams.

* * *

Guuuu…such a short chappeh.

Chapter 4 will come soon, I promise.

And now I'm very tired, something that is not recommended for people who are about to take taekwondo…(cries)

Read and review, all the works.

-Ari Elisianete


	4. Truly Holy

Chapter four! Wow, it's up…here goes nothing!

Disclaimer: Don't own it. (cries)

* * *

**I've heard there was a secret chord  
That David played and it pleased the lord  
But you don't really care for music, do you?  
It goes like this  
The fourth, the fifth  
The minor fall, the major lift  
The baffled king composing hallelujah…**

"_Sometimes Yuna would just stare off into the distance. I finally understood why. She was saying goodbye to the places she'd never see again."_

_Braska, I remember, would assume the same dead gaze occasionally. Staring off into the distance just like Yuna does, memorizing every blade of grass, every grain of sand. As we have progressed, I began to realize that time was repeating itself right before my eyes—but it's _eye_ now, isn't it? The other day, when we first came to the Calm Lands, I watched Yuna stand on the cliff and give that same gaze, and suddenly she looked exactly like her father. Suddenly, it hurt to look at her. And suddenly…that was when I knew that I was breaking._

_Rikku…my discussion with her last night made me realize that she had already endured the suffering that came with Sin-filled adulthood. When her mother died, she did the only thing that she could do at the time; she wept. Jecht and Braska… I could have done more than that. And I did. I only wish that I had cried, instead…_

_How am I supposed to hold the others together when I myself am falling apart?_

* * *

The climate changed very quickly at the party ascended the mountain. Abruptly the sky turned grey over their heads, and mild snow began to fall. Rikku was absolutely infatuated with the white puffs falling from the sky. 

"What _is_ this stuff?" she asked everyone at once.

"Well…it's snow," Tidus replied, giving her a funny look. "You've never seen it before?"

"I'd heard of it, but I didn't believe it was real!"

Tidus blinked. "Wait, didn't you see snow at Macarena?"

"_Macalania,_" everyone corrected.

"Oh, yeah!" Rikku said, remembering the white stuff. "I guess I was so busy protecting Yunie that I didn't really notice."

She proceeded to skip around the area, twirling happily in the snow as everyone watched with interest and amusement. Yuna giggled.

"Watch this," she said, falling to the ground on her back and waving her arms and legs back and forth. When she got up, a shape was present where she had flailed.

"Hey, snow angel!" Tidus said.

"Cool! Does it always snow here?" Rikku asked.

"Sacred Mountain Gagazet," Kimahri said, "Not change for a thousand years."

"Oh, that reminds me." Rikku perked up. "Hey Auron, how old are you anyway?"

The legendary guardian raised an eyebrow, stepping forward. "You really wish to know?"

He was actually going to _tell_ her! That caught everyone's attention.

Auron chuckled and began to walk ahead of everyone.

"I will be turning thirty-six very soon."

Everyone's jaws dropped as they were rendered speechless. Auron stopped and turned back to them, giving them an expectant look. "Are you coming or not?"

They followed, still dumbstruck.

Auron managed to fall to the back of the group as they went higher and higher, remaining silent --though his amused look said everything for him.

"How old did you think I was?" he asked. The others shook their heads.

"You do _not_ want to know."

That earned a short grunt of a laugh from him, and they all fell silent, their thoughts returning to the morbid reality.

The path soon opened up into a clearing in the mountain, and the group stopped.

Two massive pillars loomed on the other side where the path narrowed again, decorated with tribal paintings.

"Are we here?" Tidus asked.

"In essence," Auron answered. It was his word of wisdom as a guardian that counted most now. Even though Lulu and Wakka had been on more pilgrimages than he, both of their summoners had quit at the Calm Lands. In other words, Auron was the only one who had been this far before. "Let's move."

Kimahri stepped forward, but suddenly there was a beastly roar from somewhere overhead. A Ronso was lunging toward him. He dodged to the side as the other landed on the ground with a smooth thud, hissing. The party noticed more of his kind emerging from the path ahead, and looked around to see even more on the cliffsides. None looked too happy to see them, either. Nearly the whole party took to a half fighting stance, that excluding Auron, Yuna, and Lulu.

"Summoner Yuna and guardians, leave here at once!" a large, older Ronso in the middle commanded. It was Kelk Ronso, the Ronso Elder. "Gagazet is Ronso land, sacred mountain of Yevon. The mountain will not bear the footsteps of infidels!"

The Ronso that had attacked Kimahri stood. "Enemy of Yevon is enemy of Ronso! Leave, traitors!" It was Biran, Auron and Tidus realized, and Yenke abruptly appeared next to him. Yuna spoke up.

"I have cast aside Yevon!" she told them, earning bewildered growls. "I follow the temple no more!"

Kelk gave the loudest growl of "blasphemy" of all. "Then you will die by those words!"

"So be it. Yevon has warped the teachings and betrayed us all!"

"Nothing but a bunch of low-down tricksters, eh?" Wakka cut in.

"Yeah, yeah!" Tidus and Rikku cheered, punching the air for emphasis. Yuna nodded to herself.

"We have no regrets."

"Blasphemers!" Yenke cried.

"A summoner and her guardians…" Kelk appeared lost in thought, then. Lulu cleared her throat.

"Lord Kelk Ronso, if I may. Have you not also turned your back on Bevelle?"

Auron saw where she was going. "But still, you guard Gagazet as a Ronso, not a maester. Yuna is much the same."

Biran ignored his words. "Elder Kelk! Let Biran rend them asunder!"

"No escape!" Yenke said, "Not one!"

Yuna didn't even flinch. "No, we will not flee. We will fight, and continue on."

Kelk seemed to be shaken out of his trance then, and he drew himself up to speak. "You have been branded a traitor, but still you would fight Sin? Lost to the temple, hated by the people, yet you continue your pilgrimage? Everything lost! What do you fight for?"

"I fight for Spira," Yuna readily replied. "The people long for the Calm…I can give it to them. It's all I _can_ give. Defeating Sin, ending pain…this I can do."

"Even sacrificing yourself?" The elderly Ronso sank into thought again before taking another course of action. "Ronso, let them pass!"

The party blinked. What?

"Summoner Yuna, your will is stronger than steel. Tempered steel that even the mightiest Ronso could not hope to bend," Kelk praised. "Yuna, we bow to your will!"

Before Yuna could bow in acceptance, he motioned toward the path behind him. "Now go! The sacred heights of Gagazet welcome you."

_Now_ she bowed. "We thank you."

* * *

They had barely traveled five steps past the gate when Biran and Yenke ambushed Kimahri yet again. 

"Halt!" Biran commanded. They had no choice but to do so.

"Haven't you bothered us enough?" Tidus asked, and the two Ronso ignored him.

"Summoner may pass. Guardians may pass. Kimahri not pass!" Biran spat Kimahri's name as if it were poison. "Kimahri shame Ronso brothers. Kimahri forget his birth."

"Forget his people, forget his mountain. Little Ronso! Weakling Ronso!" Yenke taunted.

"Mountain hate the weak, hate the small. If you will climb..."

"Then I must prove my strength!" Kimahri finished, stepping forward. Biran laughed at his bravery.

"Think you will win? You not forget who took your horn! Never forget!"

"Kimahri never beat brother Biran! Never win!"

Kimahri growled. "This time, I win. I _will_ win!"

Tidus came to his side ready to fight, but the Ronso held out an arm meant to stop him. The blonde looked up at him curiously.

"This some kind of Ronso thing?" he asked. Kimahri nodded, drawing his lance.

"Kimahri problem."

Tidus nodded and stepped back just as the three Ronso leapt into battle. They launched themselves at Kimahri, teeth bared and claws at the ready. Kimahri dodged and struck Biran in the side with the broad of his heavy lance, knocking him over and off balance and giving Yenke a chance to follow up. He did, slashing at Kimahri's eyes. But he dodged yet again, turning to land a punch to the side of the other's tiger-like face. It connected with a sickening crunch, but Yenke was too strong to let it bother him enough to get off balance. He mimicked Kimahri, his fist having a painful meeting with Kimahri's cheek. Unfortunately, Kimahri wasn't strong enough for his body to just ignore that like Yenke's had; he flew to the side, recovering only half as smoothly as he would have liked.

An Al Bhed potion would cure that along with a wound Yuna had sustained earlier, Rikku thought. She reached into her pocket and began to walk forward, but a strong hand gripped her shoulder, stopping her short.

"Rikku."

"Whadaya want, Auron?" she asked, turning around. The guardian gave her a stern look.

"This is Kimahri's fight. Best not to get involved. Besides," Auron said, nodding his head toward the battle, "He's already healed himself."

It was true; their comrade had already drained a potion, and the bleeding from his mouth had stopped. She relaxed, and Auron removed his hand from her shoulder. Suddenly she missed the warmth, so she backed up to stand next to him. The man was a freakin' furnace! She could only imagine how warm she would feel if he wrapped her arm around her…

She shook her head to drive away those unhealthily pleasant thoughts and turned her attention back to the fight, thankful that she was already blushing due to the cold. At least her face was warm now.

The three Ronso were at it again, with Kimahri counterattacking smoothly as his assailants charged. And for a moment the battle stopped, with Biran and Yenke backed away and panting. Of course, Kimahri looked out of breath, too, but he also looked like he had more strength to spare than the other two. He was winning, they realized. The duo then grew desperate, charging at him whenever possible. But they _were_ tired, so they always missed.

And then the battle froze again in the same situation, but they realized that Biran and Yenke were not going to attack again. The guardians relaxed, but Kimahri kept his stance, ready for anything that they might throw at him. But when they did not continue their assault and instead drew themselves up proudly, Kimahri knew that they would not fight anymore. He stood down.

"Strong is Kimahri. Biran is happy," Biran said. He raised his arms to the sky and began to call to the mountain itself. "Sacred Mount Gagazet! I honor the name of the warrior who defeats Biran. Remember always, Gagazet! That name is Kimahri!"

Yenke growled in approval. "Mountain knows Kimahri strong. Kimahri may pass."

"Summoner!" Biran said, "We Ronso will stop pursuers from temple."

Yuna smiled. "Truly?"

"Penance for breaking Kimahri's horn, long ago."

"We crush enemies following behind," Yenke said. Kimahri pounded his fist against his chest in a Ronso custom that Auron recognized as a more formal signal that a vow had been made.

"Kimahri crush enemies standing before," Kimahri promised.

"You are most fortunate summoner." Biran nodded to Kimahri in praise. Yuna bowed.

"I thank you."

"Ronso will shine your statue brightest," Yenke said. A sad look entered Yuna's expression.

"Thank you. But I fear that no one will make a statue for a traitor such as I am."

"Then Ronso will make!"

"With grand horn on head!"

Yuna beamed sincerely. "That…would be wonderful."

Rikku giggled as she tried to picture Yuna with a horn on her head and heard a grunt from Auron, who was undoubtedly trying to picture the same thing. Biran and Yenke parted for them, giving another salute that meant something along the lines of "may the mountain grant you strength." They walked forward as the two launched themselves up and out of sight.

Just as they reached a cliffy area, the two appeared again, perched high above them.

"Summoner Yuna!" Biran called. Tidus sighed.

"What is it this time?"

They raised their hands to the sky, and began to…sing. It was the Hymn of the Fayth, they realized. As they sang, more and more Ronso appeared on the cliffsides, joining in the spiritual song. And soon the group began to hear singing from outside the clearing, from the other parts of the mountain.

"News travels fast, here," Auron said to Rikku. She scanned all of the Ronso with interest, skipping off to see the ones higher up. She soon missed the warmth that continued to emanate from the legendary guardian, returning to his side as soon as she had gotten her fill of the excitement. The low voices echoed around the mountain, making sure every voice reached their ears. It was as if the mountain itself was trying to sing.

"Truly…" Auron stopped, unable to find the right word. Holy? That could work. Rikku looked up at him curiously.

"Holy?"

He blinked. "Yes." _And unchanged for a thousand years._

The Ronso finished their chorus and departed, leaving the mountain unbearably quiet except for the howling of the wind against the rocks. They journeyed on.

Fiends were easy here, thankfully. The cold wore everyone down eventually—excluding, of course Kimahri, who despite his ten-year absence found that he was still used to the weather. Auron pushed his sunglasses higher on his nose to protect his eye against the ever falling snow, aware that Rikku was staring at them once again.

"You have your goggles," Auron pointed out. She seemed to just then notice that they were there resting around her neck, and she let a hand rest on them for a moment before letting it fall.

"I can deal," she said. Auron nodded. As long as they didn't have a repeat of yesterday.

They made their way over the winding, snowed over paths of Mount Gagazet, fighting fiends along the way. They relied on Auron's memories of the place when they came to an intersection, and his memories served them well; they never met a dead end. Just as they were, according to Auron, close to the other side of the mountain, Rikku suddenly rushed ahead to pull Tidus off to the side. "We'll catch up in a second," she assured everyone. When she was sure that everyone was out of sight, she sighed heavily.

"Zanarkand is on the other side, you know?"

Tidus paused. "I know."

"Yunie is gonna get the Final Aeon, you know?"

"I know."

"I still haven't thought of anything."

"Me neither."

"What are we gonna do?" Rikku asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"We'll do something! We just don't know enough yet. Until we do, we really can't help Yuna." Tidus raised his fist to the air. "Let's go to Zanarkand. We'll find something there. It'll all come together! I know it!"

Rikku grinned, leaning forward. "Hey... Just now you sounded like a leader, you know?"

Tidus pointed a thumb to his chest. "Star of the Zanarkand Abes! Didn't anyone tell you?" She laughed as they began to walk off to catch up with the others.

But the hair on the back of her neck raised, and the air behind them stirred. Instantly she knew something was wrong. She turned around to look back, and immediately screamed at the sight that stood behind them.

"Ah, the son of Jecht."

Tidus leapt into a fighting stance, drawing his sword. "Rikku, run ahead and tell Auron!" he commanded, holding the weapon in front of him protectively.

"You are not fighting him alone!" Rikku protested, fumbling for her own weapon. Tidus shook his head and pushed her in the direction of the others.

"Just go! Go!!"

And she turned and ran.

* * *

You like? 

I'm sorry that this chapter didn't have much of the featured pairing in it, but trust me. When they get to Zanarkand…well, need I say more?

And I'm sorry to say that the next chapter will be realitively short; all I can tell you is that it has to do with the poem at the beginning of this chapter which, by the way, I do not own.

-Ari Elisianete


	5. Auron's Promise, Auron's Plan

IT'S HERE! -does the update dance- Wooooooohhhhhoooooooooooo!

**PLEASE READ! I have a question to ask you.**

In the next upcoming fight, I may put in the hints to a sequel. But I'm not sure if I will do the sequel at all, though there is a high chance that I will. Very high. In fact, I don't know why I just said I wouldn't do one –laughs-. I know that there will be hints to one in the end of this story, but I'm wondering which fight I should put the hints in; Sanctuary Keeper, Spectral Keeper (That fight won't be too special, so I wouldn't recommend voting for it), or the Yunalesca battle. There is a VERY high chance that I'll put it in the Yunalesca fight for reasons I won't reveal for the sake of story spoilers (but I do have something special planned). What I want is a vote from you, the reader, on which fight I should enlighten with what I've got planned.

Please remember though: Even if you all vote for one fight, I may put it in another just for the sake of the story. Vote in reviews, yes? Hey, I may not put one in the fights at all.

Disclaimer: Do I really need to put another one? Go check the other chappehs.

...Doooh, fine. I do not own FFX, etc, etc.

Oh, and I really am sorry for the shortness of this chapter. -looks-

Well…on second thought, it's not really that short...

* * *

"_My wife used to always tell stories of her heritage," Braska said. Jecht sniffed._

"_Yeah? I was always telling her the stories."_

"_What about you, Auron?"_

_Auron stopped what he was doing, giving an exasperated sigh. This was not the first time that the two had asked him about his love life._

"_Love," he began, "Is merely one of life's many obstacles."_

_Braska gave an amused smile while Jecht, much to Auron's annoyance, cracked up._

"_That's not quite true, Auron," Braska said. "It is nice to be able to find true strength in the eyes of another and know that they return the feeling. It can, in fact, help one overcome some of the greatest obstacles of all."_

_Auron grunted._

"_Bwahaha! I can picture it now;" Jecht began an imitation of Auron, "Love? Is that an emotion? Bwahaha!! I wonder if you'd explode, then!"_

"_Will you two stop bothering me?"_

* * *

Auron trudged through the snow at the back of the group, lost in his own memories. It was only when a certain Al Bhed came crashing into his back and fell flat onto the snow that he was pulled back into reality. But not completely.

"Will you stop bothering me?" he said, whipping around to face her. A hurt look entered her eyes, and Auron realized he'd been careless.

"Sorry, I was…" _Just in the middle of damning my memories to a well deserved grave._

Those three words seemed to make her understand, but a fearful look was still in her wide eyes. He recognized the expression immediately.

"Trouble?" he asked. Everyone went on full alert at her reply.

"Seymour!!"

* * *

"Now is your time to die," Seymour said to the blonde. "Prepare yourself, son of Jecht."

Tidus growled. "Not if I can help it!"

"Same some for Kimahri!"

He turned to see the Ronso running over with the rest of the party, all of them battle ready. Seymour's eyes locked on Yuna.

"Lady Yuna," he said smoothly, "It is a pleasure."

Yuna, with a determined look on her face, stepped forward and twirled her staff in sending motions. Seymour merely smiled. Auron winced as he felt the man's aura swirl; Unsents could sense each other when near, and that was how they did so. "The Aura of the Dead." But his aura was tainted somehow—it made Auron want to vomit. Oh, yes; the man was indeed dead.

"A sending, so soon? Allow me to say something to the last Ronso before I leave," said the Guado. Auron turned his head to glance at Kimahri. The last Ronso?

"Yours was truly a gallant race," he continued. "They threw themselves at me to bar my path. One...after another..." He made swiping motions with his hand, and Kimahri gripped his lance tightly in anger.

"No…"

Yuna grew aghast. "Kimahri…"

Auron assumed the same expression. Surely this hellish man had to be exaggerating. The women and children…wouldn't they have escaped? Wait, no. The Ronso was a proud race; every being would have fought, just like Yenke and Biran had promised.

He silently swore that he would make this so-called holy man pay dearly for hurting his friend.

"You could end the suffering of this poor Ronso."

"I don't understand you!" Yuna cried.

"Allow Kimahri to die, and release him from his pain," Seymour said. "Spira...is a land of suffering and sorrow caught in a spiral of death. To destroy—to heal—Spira, I will become Sin. Yes, with your help…Come with me, Yuna."

Tidus stepped in front of the summoner, and Seymour seemed to acknowledge him then. "Once I have become the next Sin, your father will be freed again."

"What do you know?" Tidus spat. Auron's lips twitched in a smile. _Just like Jecht._

"Pitiful mortal," Seymour growled, and suddenly a huge monster flew up from behind him. He began to hover toward it as the monster seemed to absorb him. "Your hope ends here, and your meaningless existence with it!"

He looked like he was encased in a metal of some sort at the monster's front. The rest of the thing looked just…hard. Armor Break would be needed. Auron grunted, Tidus gave the symbol for everyone to move, and all hell broke loose.

* * *

Holy Water and Esuna turned out to be a necessity as Seymour continuously used an attack he called "Lance of Atrophy." At least everyone had been turned into a zombie once, and everyone had been ordered to keep an eye on each other and heal an infected person immediately. They had a good system going. Kimahri attacked vigorously, too.

"Lulu, here!" Rikku tossed her a vial of Holy Water which she used just before Full-Life was cast on her. Auron cast a glance at the Al Bhed, checking her endurance; she was fine. But as soon as he returned his attention to Seymour, he noticed that the demon was charging up an elemental spell. And he was looking right at Rikku.

"Rikku! Move!" Auron ordered as he rushed over, his hand reaching out. She hadn't heard him. Just as the streak of lightning shot through the air, Auron grabbed one of the ribbons attached to her shirt and yanked, pulling her out of the way of a would be fatal spell. It crashed harmlessly into the cliff behind them.

Unfortunately, Rikku had taken the action as something different.

"AURON!!!" She cried, turning around and punching him right across the face. He blinked, then his eye narrowed. "What are you trying to do, you freak?!"

He pointed to the charred cliffside, and it took her a moment to realize that he had just saved her life. She blushed furiously. "Uhh…sorry, I—"

"I don't _want_ to know what thoughts were possibly running through your head," Auron growled, launching himself back into the fray with a slice across Seymour's side. He howled in pain, drawing back to attack someone less powerful. Rikku adjusted her shirt in an embarrassed fashion before returning to the fight, herself.

It seemed like forever passed before Tidus gave one last battle cry and delivered the final blow. Seymour hovered backwards until he was off of the cliff completely, pyreflies beginning to pour out of him. Auron shoved his sword into the ground, kneeling as Rikku dropped to her knees beside him in exhaustion. The others did something along the lines of showing their fatigue in their own ways, watching triumphantly as Seymour faded away. Tidus crawled to the edge of the cliff and pointed.

"And stay up there!" he cried, collapsing. Auron chuckled. He turned to Rikku.

"Tired?" he asked. She leaped up, smiling.

"Never!"

And she suddenly fell to her knees again, looking like she was injured. Auron whipped around to catch her from falling completely.

"Yuna!" He called, searching for the injury. His breath caught at the sight of a gash on her shoulder, bleeding freely down her arm. The bolt of lightning must have still gotten her, he realized. For some reason he grew angry then. Why hadn't he noticed such a bad wound?

Rikku was still in his arms when Yuna reached them, squatting to get a better look. Her hand hovered over the cut with a faint green glow of healing, and Auron watched as the wound closed. Rikku sighed.

"Thanks, Yunie!" Yuna smiled, producing a cloth.

"Sir Auron, can you wipe off as much blood as you can? I remember how you once told us that blood attracts fiends, so…"

Auron nodded and took the rag from her, looking down at Rikku. "Do you want to do it?"

"Honestly," Rikku laughed, "I can't feel my arms. Or any other part of my body, for that matter." She was indeed limp. Auron placed her on his lap so she would have to sit on the cold ground and get even more numb before he set about cleaning off her arm as gently as possible, sometimes letting the rag sit on the snow to gain moisture for wiping away the dried blood.

Rikku was glad that the furnace who was cleaning her arm was still warm; she soon began to get feeling back. Just as he finished, she thought she was ready to go. She leaped up again, grinning.

"And thank you! I think I can walk now."

But her legs still weren't ready to give support, and Auron had to move quickly to keep her from crashing to the ground again. Damn the cold.

"Are you certain?"

She glared up at him mockingly. "Pssh."

He set her down so he could get up and walk to the edge of the cliff, tossing the now bloody cloth away. No need to carry around a sign that said "Hey fiends, lunch here!"

When he returned, he carefully helped her up, keeping a hand around her shoulder to give support. He guided her over to the others.

"I hope there's no one else who can't walk," he said. They all shook their heads.

Rikku blushed. Now that he actually had wrapped his arm around her shoulder, she was _extremely_ warm, just as she had imagined. Her blush grew redder. Stupid fantasies! Tidus laughed.

"You okay? You're face is really red."

Rikku jumped. "Uh…I'm just cold! Y-yeah!" It was the truth. The stutter hadn't been born of nervousness, either. Just the friggen cold. Well…mostly. Auron tipped his head to give her a quizzical look and she avoided meeting his gaze, something she probably shouldn't have done. Tidus and Lulu were the only two who noticed the exchange, and they both raised an eyebrow. The others, however, were oblivious.

"Well?" Wakka said, walking forward. "Let's go! I wanna get out of here. It's freezing, ya?"

The others followed willingly, and when they got near the cliffside Rikku truly felt she could walk. She told Auron just that, and he let her go almost…reluctantly. She still stayed by his side for warmth, however. They then realized that Yuna wasn't following and she stood behind, her head bowed in thought.

"He will become Sin…with my help," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Lies," Auron countered. "Forget them."

"If he becomes Sin, Sir Jecht will be saved."

Auron's gaze met the ground for a second. "We're leaving."

Yuna's brows drew together in anger. "You know something," she cried to the warrior. "Tell me!"

Auron was silent; it became obvious that he wasn't about to talk anytime soon. Rikku knew how to make him talk, but she didn't think that the others would like to wait for fifteen minutes. Yuna ran to Tidus.

"Tell me!"

There was a long silence, and Auron's eye widened. _No, boy. Don't tell them._

"Sin's…my old man."

The others recoiled, including Rikku. Auron had to put a hand on her back to steady her.

"You hit your head?" Wakka asked.

Tidus cast his eyes to the ground. "Sin is my old man. My old man became Sin!" he said, sounding as if he was also trying to convince himself of the fact. "I don't know how or why he did it. I felt him, inside. And when I did, I knew it was true. My old man is Spira's suffering." He closed his eyes. "Sorry."

Yuna stepped forward, reaching out a hand but pulling it back. "Even…even knowing that Sin is your father, still you know…I must…"

Tidus looked deep into her eyes. "Yeah, I know. Let's get him. I think my old man would want that."

"You'd fight your own father?" Lulu asked incredulously. Tidus nodded.

"Yeah. No problem here."

Wakka stepped forward, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh... 'Bout your old man... You sure this ain't some kinda bad toxin dream or something? Then, Chappu..." he trailed off. "I, uh... I think I'll just pretend I didn't hear nothing. I'm getting a little confused, ya? Why... Why'd all this have to happen?"

"We'll learn when we arrive. Soon." Auron beckoned for them to move on, and that is just what they did.

* * *

"Wow!"

"Wh-what are those?"

The space around them dripped with a liquid that looked like it could hold form. They were about to enter the caves, Auron had informed them.

"_Eeeey! What are these things? They look all…weird!" Jecht asked, running ahead. Auron had been about to ask the same thing, though a little less…immaturely._

"_Those are fayth for a summoning," Braska said. "Someone nearby is using a lot of energy, it seems."_

"_Hey, you think we could swim in that?" Jecht asked. The pure liquid energy did look a lot like water. Braska laughed._

"_I wouldn't try it, if I were you," Auron said as they walked past him. Jecht got a disappointed look on his face._

"_Aww."_

"Those are fayth," Yuna explained. "A summoning! Someone is using these fayth, someone is drawing energy from all of them!"

"This many?" Rikku asked.

"Who wields power on this scale, and what could they be calling?" Lulu looked around with wide eyes at the dripping energy. Rikku noticed how Auron had a wise expression on his face and ran over to him.

"Hey, you know something, don't you? Spill the beans!" she ordered. Auron walked ahead.

"Look not to others for knowledge. This is your journey, too."

"Yunie might die, you know?"

Tidus stepped forward to gaze at one of the miniature waterfalls of the stuff. "No, Auron's right. This is our…this is my story."

He reached out and touched the fayth, but suddenly his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed. Everyone gasped, running over to him. Auron stayed where he was, knowing that the boy was just sleeping.

_Are the fayth finally going to tell him of his fate?_ he wondered. He prepared himself for a long wait. Seeing the expression on Yuna's face made his heart sink. The poor girl was going to be crushed when she found out. He remembered the promises that he'd made to Jecht and Braska, then, and suddenly he realized that he was going to fail at both. He'd promised to keep a smile on Yuna's face, and he'd also promised to help Tidus stay alive. But when Tidus died he would fail at one promise, and then Yuna would never smile again. That would be both.

He knew the inner workings of the Farplane from Braska's teachings. He knew about what the difference between disappearing and dying was. Disappearing was known as "dying" to the living; it was when the person went to the Farplane; disappearing was parting from the living so that the person could continue to exist in the afterlife. True _dying_ was when someone ceased to exist completely, their soul not going to the Farplane nor remaining on Spira, nor anywhere in between.

Even in death, every person had a life force. That life force was what allowed them to keep "living" in the Farplane. But if the life force was taken away or the person discarded it or something, anything happened to separate the two, then the person would cease to exist.

But Tidus wasn't going to the Farplane, he was going to cease existing; he was going to die because he didn't have a life force in the first place. He was a dream, and his life force was also a dream. It would vanish right along with him when the fayth woke up.

He and Rikku were trying to think of a plan to keep Yuna alive, but what would Tidus do when he found out that he would die if they defeated Sin? Would he try to find a way to keep himself alive? No, Auron decided, he would not. He was far too in love with Yuna. He would do everything to keep her alive, even if it meant neglecting his own. He needed someone to help him try to stay with the world.

Auron would be that person.

While those two thought up a way to keep Yuna alive, Auron would try to come up with a plan to keep Tidus alive as well.

So he immediately began to make everything he knew about the dead, the fayth, and life forces resurface in his mind, and slowly, carefully, he began to sift for an answer. He would not fail any of his friends. In his trance, he faintly heard everyone calling out to the boy.

* * *

It turns out that they waited for about a half an hour before Tidus sat up, dazed and pale.

"Are you all right?" Yuna asked. Rikku stood up.

"Hey! We were so worried about you!" she said.

"You okay?" Lulu stepped forward.

"I…I'm okay," Tidus replied to all of them.

"What happened?" Yuna asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Nothing… I blacked out. I was dreaming. You called me… and I woke up."

_Like a light in the dark,_ Auron thought.

Tidus stood along with Yuna, raising a fist in the air as he stretched. "Nothing like a good nap! Well, I'm ready. Let's go!"

Auron looked ahead to see the entrance to the caves, resembling the gaping jaw of a monster. The others followed as he silently strode in. And, in all of their opinions, he looked as grim as death.

* * *

And that's all for the chapter. I'll update soon, promise; now that I'm on track with what I want to do. Vote in the reviews if you want, but I think I already have an idea. -winks-

-Ari Elisianete


	6. Air

Here it IS! (dances)

Oh, and there is a little fluff in this chapter. Just thought you'd like to know.

Disclaimer: FFX is not Ari's. Ari does not own FFX.

* * *

_Auron glanced at one of the few crystals that seemed to be littered throughout the place, especially underwater. This place was utterly, uncomfortably damp._

"_It seems we have reached a dead end," Braska said. Auron looked up to see that the only path ahead of them was filled with water._

"_Jecht," he said, "Would you scout ahead to see if the path we need to take lies this way?"_

_He wasted no time in leaping into the water, splashing the other two men in the process._

* * *

"Looks like we have a job to do, ya?"

Lulu turned to Rikku, Tidus and Wakka. "If anything should happen in the water, we're counting on you three. If it gets dangerous, pull out quick."

They all saluted. "Roger!"

Yuna walked over to Tidus. "Be careful, okay?"

He nodded.

"Rikku."

The Al Bhed turned around just in time to catch a bag containing antidotes. Lots of antidotes. Auron nodded to her as if to say "The same goes for you." She nodded and dived with the others, disappearing under a low cave wall.

"They'll be needing those," Auron said to them. "The fiends in the water inflict poison frequently."

They waited for about five minutes before something around the corner gave a crash as if moving, and everyone went on alert in spite of themselves. Their missing party members' heads popped to the surface.

"I think we did something," Tidus informed them.

"That was you?" Yuna asked.

"I think so."

Auron was already heading around the corner to see what exactly they thought they had done. "Look."

They hopped out of the water and followed the others as they walked around the corner, gasping at what they saw; a pathway that had originally been closed off was now revealed.

"I knew there was something suspicious about that wall," Lulu said as they proceeded forward. They were all eyeing the cave walls around them warily, some of them avoiding the urge to jump at the slightest sound of someone losing their footing on the slippery floor. The grey walls of the cave held a certain sheen to them, holding moisture that was represented by the constant drip of water. It sounded almost like a song when combined with the hum of the crystals due to the power they held. Auron didn't notice.

_But if the life force can be removed from the body, wouldn't that make human lives merely something along the lines of porcelain? No, I can't make that assumption. I don't even know what it takes to do such a thing._

He was staring ahead, his mind running in circles around his ideas. He sighed in frustration. Forming a plan was difficult when you didn't know enough. He may have known a lot, but certainly not enough.

They soon came to another waterway, and the three dove off again. It was basically a repeat then; they heard a crash as a wall was removed, and the three returned so they could move on.

They reached an intersection, and the party had no choice but to stop.

"Well…which way?" Rikku asked.

"We'll split up," Lulu said. "Auron, Rikku and Kimahri, you go to the left while the rest of us will go to the right."

Best to pair up the people with the highest endurance and the one with the lowest. Right.

Auron nodded and Rikku followed close behind as he began to head down the tunnel. Kimahri gave Yuna a long look before doing the same. Auron scanned the ceiling, noticing that something was out of place. Suddenly he realized what it was; loose boulders clung to the roof of the cave. One gave a threatening crack.

"Move!" he cried, leaping forward and taking Rikku with him just as the boulders crashed down with a deafening roar. Kimahri jumped back to join the others, and everyone was forced to watch as the wall of rocks climbed higher and higher until there was no room to climb over, no hole to crawl through.

"Auron! Rikku!" Tidus called. No answer that they could hear. His eyes widened. "No…"

"Kimahri know that Auron and Rikku alive," Kimahri said immediately. "Kimahri saw Auron protect Rikku. Auron is strong, Auron safe. Rikku safe because Auron is strong." He didn't sound like he was trying to comfort them, either; he was just stating fact.

There was a moment before Tidus nodded. "I guess…we have to take your word for it."

"We can't move those rocks," Yuna said, pointing. "Maybe Sir Auron could? Should we wait?"

Lulu shook her head. "I doubt it. We should keep moving. There haven't been many fiends, but that is because they are more difficult to fight. We wouldn't want to attract them with our lingering scents."

Everyone remembered the Dark Flan…and shivered. They moved onward.

* * *

It was dark.

Auron lay sprawled across Rikku's form protectively, awkwardly. He drew a ragged breath as he noticed that something heavy was on his back and something wet was flowing around the base of the object as well. A boulder must have fallen on him. He tried to lift himself, but couldn't.

"Rikku," he said quietly. "I'm injured. I can't move."

She shivered at the feel of his voice reverberating through his chest, but she got the message and began to slide herself out from under him. In a matter of seconds she was standing and trying to push the huge rock off of his back. It rolled off after a couple of kicks, and Auron grunted in pain.

"I can't see," Rikku said.

"I can." His heightened senses allowed for such things.

"How are you hurt?"

"The rock must have cut into me. Give me a moment." She heard him stand up and go over to sit against the wall. "Rikku, move. There are more loose pieces above you."

She jumped over to him after a miniscule pebble fell onto her head, crashing into him. He growled as his back rubbed against the wall.

"Oh, sorry!" She found a spot next to him and sat, fumbling for a potion. She found one and held it out in the air. "Here."

She felt him take the thing from her hand slowly so he wouldn't startle her, but she jumped and let out a squeak anyway.

"Calm yourself," he ordered softly as he felt the wound close. "It does no good to be nervous. Especially here."

"What are we gonna do?" she asked. Auron sighed.

"Nothing to do but move on," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to a stand as he stood, himself. "Keep close. Wouldn't want you to stray off and get lost in the dark."

She did _not_ like the sound of that; she grabbed a hold of Auron's sake jug as they began to walk.

* * *

"A dead end."

Wakka sighed. "Auron and Rikku must have gotten the path with the water, ya? Dey have to do the trials."

"Rikku can't survive in the water by herself," Yuna said, "You said the fiends were strong."

"Relax, everyone." They all turned to Tidus. "Auron can swim."

"Really?" Wakka raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. He can hold his breath for about two minutes, maybe longer."

"Then…we must wait and hope that they will come through for us," Lulu said.

* * *

Auron sighed. "Can you see now?"

"Yeah."

Crystals illuminated the water in front of them eerily, hiding the fiends that might be waiting for them in its depths. Rikku was overly thankful for the light.

"I can swim," Auron informed her.

"Really?"

"Tidus taught me how to hold my breath for large amounts of time while I was raising him. Two minutes is my record, though. I'm not very good."

"We'll swim fast, then."

They dove into the water and headed through to an underwater tunnel. Auron knew he was a good swimmer, but he saw that he was nowhere near as good as Rikku. She snaked through the water like an eel, looking as if she belonged there. Her hair trailed out behind her, shining in the crystals' lights.

The tunnel seemed endless, and Rikku kept glancing back at Auron to check on him. They had passed two minutes, and they were about to reach three. He didn't _look_ tired, but…

On the fourth minute, however, he suddenly stopped and a bubble of air escaped, unable to be held back by a hand over his mouth. He was running out of air! Rikku frantically searched for an air pocket, but to no avail. Auron's eye widened as he began to swim past her, trying to find what she was searching for, but suddenly she had an idea.

She swam to his front and stopped him, removing his hand from his mouth. Unable to keep herself from blushing, she pulled herself closer to him and pressed her lips to his, blowing. She was giving him air, he realized. But through that was something...more, something that Rikku was trying to hide. This wasn't just a way to give him more time underwater. When their lips parted he stared, dazed.

He followed as she beckoned, a shocked look on his face. It was not the kiss that had shocked him. No, it hadn't been a kiss. It was just a way to give him air. He would keep telling himself that.

But for one moment…one brief, fleeting moment during that exchange, his heart had given a single, strong, sure beat before fading back into its dead state. And coupled with the fact that the kiss had been the most wonderful thing he had ever felt, it was enough to shake him to the core. Damn it! It was _not_ a kiss.

Their heads reached the surface not long after and he drew in a deep breath, savoring the fresh air. Rikku was a few feet away with her back to him, her body positioned in the way that usually told everyone that she was either embarrassed or guilty.

"I must thank you," Auron said.

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

He decided to save her the trouble of asking why she was so embarrassed over the action. She had saved him, nothing more.

"What's this?"

He glided over to a set of crystals under the water, pointing. She finally turned around and took a look for herself.

"I dunno. The other trials have been mostly about hitting the right things at the right times. But those crystals don't look like they're meant to be hit."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Auron said, diving under to get a better look. Rikku followed.

He leaned in close to the crystals, trying to pick up anything peculiar. Rikku couldn't help but notice the way he looked in the water; like he was flying. His hair looked extremely soft...

That was when he noticed small sets of symbols carved into them, including the Yevon symbol. He gestured to them and moved over so Rikku could see before surfacing.

"Those Yevon symbols must be where we're supposed to hit," Rikku said.

"What makes you so sure that they are meant to be destroyed?"

"Something has to be broken for the walls to move, right?" She prepared to dive. "So we break it."

He held out a hand before she could crush the things, stopping her. She gave him a confused look as he pressed the Yevon symbol, which began to glow. He smiled.

They heard a massive crash as one of the walls nearby was moved, and he knew that they had succeeded. Surfacing again, he gestured to a second tunnel that had just opened up.

"Let's go."

* * *

The guardians jumped as the rock wall crumbled before them, blinking.

"They did it!" Yuna said.

Tidus walked forward, noticing a waterway to the left. "Hey, guys!"

There were two shadows approaching the surface. He jumped back, preparing for a fight, but when he saw the two people burst to the surface he smiled and let out a cry of surprise. Auron and Rikku burst above the water, scrambling for land. Auron gasped for air and latched himself to the steps as Rikku climbed out completely.

"Hey, old man!" Tidus said, squatting. "You okay?"

Auron sighed. "Five minutes. I hit five minutes."

"Wow." He had never held his breath for that long before.

"Sir Auron! Rikku!" the others called, rushing forward. Yuna brought Rikku into a hug while Auron simply pulled himself out of the water, dripping wet. He began to wring out the bottom of his coat.

"Rikku! I'm so glad you're safe!" Yuna said. "I couldn't bear losing my cousin, too."

Auron froze, his eye sliding over to land on the two. _…Cousin?_ He dropped the coat. _I don't believe it._

Lulu smiled. "We're glad to see you two are well."

He snapped out of it. "We need to keep moving." He was very good at recovering from shocking news, it seemed.

They ignored him in favor of a few more seconds of reunion, then followed him as he strode away.

"No need to rush it, ya?" Wakka said, looking grim.

"They'll be upon us soon," Auron said. "She has sent fiends to test out summoner's strength."

Everyone was silent. Yuna stepped forward.

"Who is 'she'?" she asked.

"Yunalesca."

Everyone raised an eyebrow at the tone he used to say her name. There was something there, something that they couldn't place. They only knew that it was bad.

"Lady Yunalesca?"

"In Zanarkand, she awaits the arrival of the strongest."

"She…is still alive?" Yuna asked almost incredulously. Auron grunted.

"As much as Mika and Seymour." _And me._

"I…see."

Auron turned around to face her. "Lost your nerve?" She shook her head, holding it proudly.

"No," she said. "Nothing frightens me now."

"Braska would be proud," Auron said, knowing that those words coming from him would give her confidence.

"Then I must not let him down."

It was not long before they climbed the familiar stone steps that would eventually lead to the surface. Auron informed them of this, and they all sighed in relief. Everyone was looking forward to being rid of these damp, dark tunnels. He knew that he would be too.

And then there was light; blessed, great light. Everyone blinked against the sun for a minute or two to adjust their vision, and Tidus ran out into the open, stretching and loving the fact that there was _space_. Rikku seemed unusually quiet.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable," Auron advised. Tidus turned around.

"Why not?"

There was a massive crash behind him as a familiar sight appeared: The Sanctuary Keeper.

"It comes!"

* * *

This is probably the fastest I've gotten up a chapter, but this is only to make up for the fact that I'll need a bit of time to think up the fight. I need to review the gameplay videos, go over the thing's moves and status ailments, etc. You have no idea how hard I work on this, but I take pleasure in it. All I ask is a little time.

**Oh, and you guys know I love your reviews, right?** They are my motivation. I haven't really thanked you for them, so here you are! Every time msn messenger pops up with the message "You have received a new email message from The Fanfiction Service" I get a big smile on my face. And for those of you that don't know me very well, (that would be…most of you) smiles are a bit rare. -laughs-

-Ari Elisianete


	7. Keeper

Wow. Lots of reviews in my standards have been submitted for this story, and I feel I must thank you again. I've gotten a lot of smiles on my face these past few days!

**ALSO**: When Hallelujah is mentioned, I thought you should know that I was listening to Imogen Heap's version, just because it actually does have humming. You can do the same, if you want.

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. FFX, that is. I don't own the song, either.

* * *

"It's like playing jumprope!"

"Why would you compare a battle like this to a children's game?"

"It helps you dodge the tail!"

Auron was staying just out of reach of the Sanctuary Keeper's vicious tail while Tidus was flipping around the monster as though he was on some sort of drug. Unless you counted Haste as a drug; in which case they were all guilty. Auron charged in to attack once more while Tidus dodged a swipe from its claws as Wakka followed up with a hit from his blitzball. The beast raised its wings.

"Everyone, get ready!" Yuna instructed just as it used Photon Wings, an attack that seemed to hit everyone no matter how much they tried to dodge. Auron noticed that Rikku began to attack Tidus after the rain of energy was over; she had been affected. He quickly notified Yuna, who used Esuna. Rikku readily joined the battle again.

"Tidus has a system going," Auron said to her, "See if you can mimic his moves for as long as it works."

She began to mirror Tidus's every action other than the difference of attacking, and it worked effectively. The creature couldn't tell which one to attack first, probably over-thinking it and assuming that one was an illusion. It tried to do a tail swipe, but all that it got out of that was the chance for five people to attack it while one doublecasted Firaga.

Auron charged along with the others, giving it one blow before backing up again to try and get out of its reach. Just as he did, however, he saw the tail swooping around straight toward him. He had just enough time to register what was happening, turn, and shove his sword into the ground before the tail crashed into it, sending a jolt down his arms. But it worked; he had stopped the tail completely. Lifting his sword, he leaped up and drove it straight through to effectively pin down the end of the tail. The Sanctuary Keeper let out a howl that made his ears ring, but it told him what he needed to know.

"The tail is the weak spot!" he shouted to alert everyone. "Attack the tail, quickly before it breaks free!"

Everyone at least landed one blow (with the exception of Lulu's doublecast) before the beast was able to jerk its tail free from his sword and smack Auron, sending blood and both he and his sword flying. He recovered smoothly, grasping the hilt of his weapon. Just as he was ready to charge into battle again, he felt a sharp stab of pain from his shoulder. He blinked, not knowing what it was until he looked down to see that one of the creature's claws had made a gash going all the way down his left arm, and it wasn't too shallow, either.

"Sir Auron!" Yuna must have cast a cure spell on him, because the wound became much less shallow, though it still began to drip with blood. How had the creature moved that fast? He bit back the pain.

He balanced his sword on his shoulder, preparing to pin the tail down again. The Sanctuary Keeper was mad at him, he knew, so it wouldn't be much of a problem. He prepared himself as the tail swept around again and he sheathed his sword in the ground, hissing audibly at the jolt. His weapon was shoved through the end of the tail again, and the others were quick to act. A few of them noticed the gash on his arm, giving him a surprised look as they attacked.

This time the Keeper pulled back more quickly even though Auron was ready, but he was still able to block its counterattack. It turned around and roared straight at him before it shivered and collapsed, dying. Its body grayed and it slowly faded away into pyreflies that hovered about the area before disappearing as well. They had fought for an hour total; he had counted.

Everyone sighed in relief. Auron stumbled; he was becoming overly dizzy. He found himself on his knees, relying on his sword to keep him up before he lost strength completely and fell to the ground. He didn't black out, however, just lay there feeling as though he was on the brink of doing so. He looked up to see if one of the others was coming, but instead saw something he didn't expect in the least.

A figure draped in black robes hovered over him, appearing as if he were trying to examine the wound. How he would do that Auron couldn't see, for he had his hood drawn up to the point where you could only see the pale face below his nose, and his lips were drawn in a slight smile. Auron couldn't tell whether the smile was sinister or caring, but thought it was something between the two.

Too tired to speak, he looked over at Rikku, who was staring fearfully over at him. No, not at him. At the mysterious figure. She could see him? Apparently, because when Yuna rushed over to the warrior she walked straight through the black robed man, causing the Al Bhed to do a double take after she had rubbed her eyes. She examined the others, and discovered that they _didn't_ notice him. She shook her head slightly as if to say "I must be going crazy. Must be the cold…"

_Then we're both crazy,_ Auron thought. He rolled over so Yuna could get a better look at the wound, and she began to cure him. Suddenly the stranger placed a hand on his shoulder. Auron felt strength begin to pour into him as his head was cleared of all fuzziness, and the wound closed up faster than he had ever thought possible—even with the highest degrees of white magic. Even what would have been a scar was gone. Yuna blinked and stared down at her hand in surprise.

"Did…I do that?"

Auron stared up at the sky with as much surprise. Who was that person? He had to be extremely powerful. He glanced back at him, but found that he was gone. Vanished, just like the wound.

He stood up slowly, trying to save pressure on his body in case the strength he felt at the moment was an illusion. But it was not—he stood up easily and claimed his sword, trying to act as if nothing had happened. The others were busy healing themselves. Rikku came running over.

"You okay? I saw that cut you had on your arm. Looked nasty."

So the strange event was enough to shake her out of her silence? She had indeed seen the man.

"I'm fine." Never better, actually. If he had had this feeling of raw power before the fight, he probably could have won on his own.

She opened her mouth to speak, looking like she wanted to ask him something. But she stopped and just smiled as if that would clear his memory of the past second. She had wanted to ask him about the black robed figure, but she was afraid that he would think she was crazy, Auron decided. She turned to the others.

"Hey, can't we rest a little?"

"No need," Auron replied. "We reach the summit soon."

"Hey, you're not one to talk," Tidus said, "You just collapsed." Rikku nodded.

"Yeah! And besides…that's why I want to stop for a bit. 'Soon' means that… there's not much time left."

Yuna closed her eyes in sadness. "Rikku…" She hadn't meant it to come out sounding exasperated at all, but it did.

"Fine," Rikku snapped. "I'll think on the way."

She stormed off and everyone but Tidus and Wakka followed. Wakka walked over and put a hand on Tidus's shoulder.

"Hey. Come on, let's go."

Tidus didn't budge. "We're…almost there, aren't we?"

"We've come a long way."

Auron chuckled from up ahead. Since when had he been there?

"What's so funny?" Tidus asked, sounding almost annoyed.

"You remind me of myself," Auron said. He paused, and he gazed off of the cliff at the low hovering clouds. "Before, the closer I came to Zanarkand, the more I wondered…when we arrive, Braska will call the Final Aeon. He will fight Sin, then die."

Auron's head turned a little. "I thought my mind was made up long before. But…when I stood here, my resolve wavered."

Wakka scratched the back of his head. "Huh, never would have figured. Legendary guardians choke sometimes, too, ya?"

The warrior turned around and grunted. "Legendary guardian?" he repeated. "I was just a boy. A boy about your age, actually. I wanted to change the world, too." At that last sentence, he sounded as if he was remembering something far off, but then his voice returned to the same coldness. "But I changed nothing."

He turned to stride away. "That is my story."

They trudged up the path silently, all but Auron not knowing exactly what was waiting for them ahead. They didn't want to be silent; it was just…this place held a certain air that seemed to demand such silence except for the soft howl of the wind, and even that element sounded as though it were trying to keep quiet, embarrassed for not being able to do so. Their feet made almost no sound as they walked, hearts sinking for no apparent reason. Well, maybe there was a reason, but…

And then they saw it.

Zanarkand; lost city of the dead.

Nearly pristine in its decayed state, the sunset hung just over the tops of the buildings, reflecting a thousand shades around the city below. The structures looked broken and whole at the same time, crumbling yet holding the will to sustain themselves even as the forces of nature willed against it. They towered above the ground proudly, even though they were breaking. Strong and broken; two words that described both the city—no, the ruins—and anyone who made it this far.

The party stopped and gazed upon the magnificence of this holy and hellish place, unable to even gasp. Tidus turned to glance slowly at Yuna's searching eyes before searching the city, himself. For what, he didn't know. Kimahri gazed passively upon the city as well.

Wakka and Lulu stood close to each other, exchanging looks that no one understood. They were coming to the realization that their summoner might actually die the way she was supposed to this time, thought Auron.

And he gazed upon the city just as he had the first time. Searching, searching, taking in everything he could before they entered the place.

"_This…is it?"_

_Auron and Braska couldn't bear to answer the man. "This is Zanarkand?"_

_They were silent. Jecht turned to the ruins._

"_I knew it," he said softly. "You both told me that it was ruins, but for some reason I couldn't believe you. I couldn't. But I came anyway. I had to see it with my own eyes."_

_He assumed an air of defeat. "I'm not going home, am I?"_

"_You can't lose hope, Jecht," Braska said encouragingly. "Your Zanarkand is out there somewhere."_

"_Thanks for trying, Braska. Means a lot."_

But this time…oh, he didn't know. "This time would be different," he was supposed to tell himself? That wasn't true. Time was repeating itself. Even now, Yuna resembled her father all too much.

Rikku stepped beside him, hands placed upon her chest in habit. She looked…frightened. Her wide eyes took it all in slowly for once, and soon she found herself searching, too. Emerald spirals darted about as her head spun in thought, but she froze when she felt a comforting hand rest briefly on her shoulder. Auron immediately regretted doing so. He was just telling another lie.

His hand slid from her shoulder as she walked away unexpectedly, stopping to stand in front of Yuna. His eye followed her every move.

"Yuna…I say no! If we go down there, then you'll..." she trailed off.

_Funny; she's never had any trouble saying it before._

Yuna tried to smile. "Rikku. You're a true friend, and I thank you, but... I must go down… to Zanarkand."

Rikku clenched her fists at her sides and shook her head. "I'm not saying we shouldn't go. But…shouldn't we think about it some more?" She leaned forward, voice growing desperate. "There's gotta be some kind of way we can save you, Yuna!"

"All my life, I knew this moment would come," Yuna said softly, still attempting to smile.

"Yunie…"

Yuna rushed forward and brought Rikku into a tight hug. "Thank you, Rikku," she said, "Thank you for everything."

Rikku leaned her head on Yuna's shoulder. "Don't say that, Yunie! It's not over yet!"

"Tell Cid thank you."

"No! You can tell him yourself!"

"Rikku, please…"

"Yunie, don't say that because...we're gonna see each other again, okay?"

Auron couldn't bear to watch any longer, and thankfully Yuna ended the conversation by stepping past the girl. "Kimahri," she said softly. "Let's go."

They led the party on, and Auron gazed one last time at the top of Zanarkand before following. He then noticed that Tidus was staying behind. He didn't stop walking, but the others did when they had gotten out of the sight of the boy.

"Let him be alone for a moment," Auron said. They agreed.

Five minutes later Tidus bounded up to them, apologizing for the wait. The others said nothing and kept moving.

It was a good thing no one was afraid of heights; the path was long and narrow, and suspended high above the city. Again, everyone was silent as they walked. But suddenly a small sound broke the silence.

It was Yuna, humming softly to herself. It was an old melody, but everyone recognized it immediately except for Tidus. Auron heart crumbled to pieces at the sound; it was the same song that Braska had hummed ten years ago while walking on this same path.

_Baby I've been here before  
I've seen this room, and I've walked this floor  
I used to live alone before I knew you._

Rikku joined in the song, humming along with her cousin.

_I've seen your flag on the marble arch  
But love is not some victory march  
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah…_

_Hallelujah, hallelujah,_

Lulu joined in as well. After she had, so did Wakka.

_  
Hallelujah, hallelujah…_

_There was a time when you let me know  
What's really going on below  
But now you never show that to me, do you?_

_Remember when I moved in you  
The Holy dove was moving, too,  
And every breath we drew was hallelujah._

By this time Tidus had already gotten the feel of the melody, and he began to hum, too. They were all humming except for Auron and Kimahri, but those two still knew the words and mouthed them as their little chorus hummed them. And then they all actually sang the last, haunting lines:

"_Hallelujah, hallelujah…  
Hallelujah, hallelujah…_"

* * *

The campsite was just as Auron remembered; a little ditch that they came upon just before entering the city. They constructed a fire and made themselves comfortable, with Auron sitting in the exact same spot he had ten years ago. Rikku sat across from him, her eyes locked on the dancing flames in thought. Tidus began to fidget before he stood up and walked past Yuna. She turned to look at him and he stopped, putting a hand on her shoulder. For a few seconds she looked like she hadn't a care in the world.

Tidus removed his hand and walked around her, climbing the small hill behind Auron to gaze again at the dead beauty of Zanarkand. He sat down.

"You know…I remember how this all started."

Everyone listened as he began to recall his journey to Besaid and beyond, others filling in the gaps when he got the details wrong or simply didn't know of an event that had taken place. They laughed over a few things, discussed some of the stranger events that had taken place. They made it all the way up until the present, and then they stopped.

"Hey! There was more, right? I mean like that time...uh... Anyone?"

There was no more. Yuna stood up.

"I think…"

"Yes?" Man, when that girl said frog, he jumped.

"I think that we should stop...maybe. For now."

Ahh. The original plan had been to keep moving after a short rest, but the summoner wanted to sleep before moving on. That was fine with everyone else; they made themselves even more comfortable than they had been. It was already nighttime, they noticed with surprise.

Auron volunteered to keep watch for most of the night, even though no fiends would attack them here. Not here. He had no choice but to tell her so; Yuna protested at first.

"Lady Yuna, I doubt I'd have any chance at sleep, anyway."

She didn't question it, then. "But you must try to sleep if you get tired."

"If I tire, then."

And soon everyone was asleep except for him. He tipped his head up to the sky, staring absently at the pyreflies that floated gracefully above, looking like white paint strokes against a midnight blue canvas. They all traveled in a thick line, never truly straying from the pack. But one did stray, and his eye followed as it glided gently down to him and past, heading toward Rikku and veering upward to join its kind once more. But he did not follow it then, for he was still set on the pyrefly's original target.

She looked overly peaceful when she slept; her hair slightly hanging in front of her and framing her perfect face. The way she curled up against the wall of their little campsite made her look comfortable, even though Auron knew she was not. She was young and just getting used to sleeping under the stars. Young, with her whole life ahead of her.

His mind suddenly flashed to his final moments with Yunalesca, and he winced. They were all going to confront her, but who knows how Rikku would act when she found out the _true_ consequences to the Final Summoning? She might act like he had…in her rage, she would attack. And she would not win. But the others?

He couldn't stand the thought of anyone becoming like him, _especially_ her. He fell asleep with those thoughts running through his mind, which didn't lead to the best of dreams.

While he dreamed, the same black robed figure watched him with the same mysterious smile on his face.

* * *

That's all for the chapter. Keep checking back.

IMPORTANT NOTE, please read: I will be going on vacation for about 5 days this upcoming week, but I'm bringing my laptop with me. Updates will/might be stalled for that time, but don't think I'm gone, okay? -giggle- I'm not abandoning you guys!

(Of course, this note will become useless when the next update or two comes out, so for those of you who are coming in and there are more chapters, just…skip this note, I suppose?)

-Ari Elisianete


	8. Determination With A Scar

Oh my. I had the strangest nightmare last night. In the dream I logged on to fanfiction, and I had ohh, say…a _huge_ amount of reviews. But they all said "It sucked. It sucked. It sucked." And from the people who are following along with the story now, "Why did your quality slip? The story just…went downhill…"

Whew. Dreams may not be able to hurt you, but this one sure shook me to the core.

Enough about that. Onward!

* * *

Nightmares, nightmares, nightmares. Auron couldn't remember the last time he had been mentally shaken while still _sleeping_.

_**You are almost there, little one. You are not allowed to break…yet.**_

Auron awoke with a start, sitting up straight. Who did that voice belong to? It came as a thought, unable to be defined by sound.

He found himself staring straight at the half exposed face of the stranger, who was still smiling eerily. Suddenly the man opened his mouth to grin, baring his teeth which were inhumanely sharp, like a water fiend's teeth. Violent. Auron froze.

_**Almost there, little one. You are almost there…**_

He disappeared, leaving no trace that he had been there at all. Auron blinked as fear began to rise inside, and he stood. Everyone else was still asleep, though they wouldn't be for long. He took a deep breath, calming himself. A projection of a nightmare, that was what that thing was. He wasn't getting enough good sleep, so he was hallucinating. Yes. He swallowed. So how had the cut on his arm healed so efficiently? Yuna did not have that sort of skill.

He felt a pang in his left arm, and suddenly he began to feel that feeling of raw power that he had the day before. Strength and energy coursed through his veins; he shivered. Off to his right, Yuna began to stir. She sat up and yawned, glancing around at the others and then waving to him.

"Good morning, Sir Auron." He merely nodded in response, unable to speak.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Yuna noticed. He chuckled, still speechless. The summoner leaned over to shake Tidus's shoulder.

"Tidus, wake up." He unconsciously asked for five more minutes before blinking himself awake and standing to stretch as Yuna woke the others. Rikku was the hardest to wake; no matter how hard she was shaken she would simply moan and roll over. She ended up having to be pulled straight to a stand by Auron, and then she was immediately sober—not to mention startled out of her skin.

Once they were all ready, they drew their weapons from the hill nearby. It was still dark though it was morning, so the pyreflies were still plainly visible.

"Let's go."

* * *

The road still resembled a road, though the sections were tilted and broken. Around them were only miles of water and pyreflies and crumbling tops of buildings (because the bottoms had dissolved long ago). But the most noticeable feature was the masses and masses of pyreflies, moaning softly in a chorus.

"Looks like the Farplane," Wakka said.

"Close enough," Auron replied.

They walked as quietly as possible, trying not to stir the silence that hung over the city with even more strength now that they were inside. Although the pyreflies made no move to be quiet, the structures they traveled over seemed to glare up at them as if commanding them to do so. It felt like even though everything here was dead, it was still trying to act with and react to its surroundings. As living beings, the party did not feel welcomed.

As an Unsent, neither did Auron. Both the pyreflies and the old structures seemed to stare at him in hopes that he would leave them alone, as if he was invading their territory. Well…in a sense, he was.

The stadium he recognized easily soon loomed before them, its tall door making it seem even higher. They traversed the steps slowly as a spectral ghost appeared as if from nowhere, greeting them.

"Journeyer of the long road, name yourself," he requested.

"_I am summoner Braska. I come from the city of Bevelle."­_

"I am summoner Yuna. I come from the island of Besaid."

"Your eyes, my dear," the ghost said, "Show me the long road you have traveled."

Yuna's mixed colored eyes lifted so he could survey them, and he nodded to himself. "Very good. You have journeyed well. Lady Yunalesca will surely welcome your arrival. Go to her now, and bring your guardians with you. Go."

They went. The ghost disappeared behind them, smiling as he faded away.

As they continued along, some of them began to show signs of nervousness—Tidus, Rikku, Yuna, and Wakka to be exact. They jumped when a specter of a person appeared in front of them soon after.

The person put a hand to their chest in salute and spoke to another specter, a summoner by the looks of her. "If it might benefit the future of Spira, I will gladly give my life," she said. "It is the highest honor for which a guardian might ask. Use my life, Lady Yocun, and rid Spira of Sin."

They faded away, and Rikku stepped forward to where they had once stood. "What…what was that?" she asked. Knowing that no one else could answer, Auron spoke up.

"Our predecessors."

Lulu crossed her arms. "She said 'Lady Yocun,' didn't she? Wait! She guarded High Summoner Yocun?"

Auron turned to face the others. "This dome is filled with pyreflies. It's like one giant sphere," he explained. His eye met the ground. "People's thoughts remain here…forever."

They hadn't traveled far before another pair appeared. One was a little boy, the other a woman. The boy had his sleeve pressed against his face to scrub away tears. His voice shook as he spoke.

"No! Mother, no! I don't want you to become a fayth!" he cried. His mother gripped her dress.

"There is no other way. Use me and defeat Sin. Only then will the people accept you," she said. The boy turned to look up at her, tears streaming down his face.

"I don't care about them! I need you, Mother! No one else!"

"I don't...have much time left."

They, too, faded away. Wakka assumed a startled expression. "Hey, wasn't that…?"

"Seymour?" Rikku finished for him.

_**You're getting closer, little one. **_

Auron froze yet again. Did the voice belong to that man—no, hallucination?

Onward. The cracked buildings around them seemed to push them onward no matter how much some of them didn't want to go.

And yet just five minutes later Auron gave a gasp at the back of the group, making everyone turn around. They didn't need to, however; the images of younger Auron, Jecht and Braska ran straight through them. Both parties stopped, and the real Auron looked at his comrades to see their expressions.

All of them were surprised, sure, but some were trying to believe that that was really the younger Auron. They looked so different! Well, face-wise. Rikku was glancing back and forth between the real and the fake with wide eyes.

"Hey, Braska. You don't have to do this," Jecht said. Without turning, Braska smiled.

"Thank you for your concern."

"Fine, I've said my piece," Jecht said, crossing his arms.

"Well, I haven't!" The younger Auron stepped forward with a determined look on his unscarred face. "Lord Braska, let us go back! I don't want to see you…die!"

Braska's smile failed. "You knew this was to happen, my friend."

He drew back, defeated. "Yes, but I…I cannot accept it."

"Auron, I am honored that you care for me so," Braska continued. "But I have come to kill grief itself. I will defeat Sin, and lift the veil of sorrow covering Spira."

The real Auron turned his head away, unable to watch. Rikku noticed.

"Please understand, Auron."

Jecht and Braska headed along, leaving Auron behind. He paused before running after them and entering the building at the end of the path. The party began to follow.

* * *

Inside, the red carpet made a true mockery of the cause.

Pillars and pieces of the ceiling had fallen to the floor, erasing any thoughts of easy crossing. They had to climb over several obstacles to even reach the first flight of stairs. The three men were traveling up ahead, so the party used them as an example.

When they had reached the entrance to what was undoubtedly the Cloister of Trials, both parties stopped yet again.

"Are the trials ahead?" Jecht asked.

"Probably," Braska replied.

"Here too, huh?" he said, crossing his arms. Auron had been silenced by their previous conversation, and said nothing. "I was expecting, you know, parades and…fireworks!"

"You can ask for them once I defeat Sin."

And all three of them faded away. Everyone glanced back at Auron, who was as silent as the younger version had just been. He only pushed past everyone and descended the staircase into the trials.

* * *

They surveyed the room before them, looking for the regular spheres and recesses. There were none; only a blue tiled floor with a few small points of light on seemingly random tiles, and a screen at the far end of the room. Tidus stepped forward, but Auron held out a halting hand.

"Stop," he ordered. "This puzzle is different than the others. It does not involve what you're used to."

He stepped on one of the points of light, and the screen fizzed to life. It showed basic shapes made of square units.

"Lady Yuna, if I may? I remember this puzzle quite well."

Yuna nodded. He stepped off what he explained from now on was the "neutral zone."

"You are not to step off unless I say so," he said. Taking a look at the screen, he went to the right side of the room and stepped on a light. One of the shapes on the screen lit up at his feet, revealing that each tile in the room represented a unit on the screen. The shape continued to glow as he stepped off.

"The shapes are not placed according to where the screen shows," Auron said, stepping on two more. "And if you step on a shape that is not shown on the screen—"

He stepped, and a white square glowed under his feet. The other shapes vanished. "Then the puzzle resets. Understand?"

They all nodded. Auron stepped on four lights, and the screen blanked as a door next to it slid open. He beckoned for them to follow, and they moaned when they reached the next room.

This area was much bigger, and lights were spread all over the floor. There was a large gap between the wall and the platform that held the tiles, a dark abyss hanging below.

In the middle of the room sat six symbols of Yevon temples around a gaping hole, and at the front of the room was a screen identical to the one in the previous.

"The same rules apply."

Auron led the others to the screen, taking a look. "Yuna," he said when he was done, "follow me."

She did so, trailing behind him as he walked over to a light and activated it. It was one of the corresponding shapes.

"Stay by this light," Auron ordered, leaving her behind and returning to the screen.

"Wakka."

The blitzball player followed as he was led to another light that was soon activated. "Stay there, and keep an eye on the light. Don't get confused with the one next to it."

He assigned several others to certain lights, and soon he had called Rikku. She strode by him with an excited air, not noticing a light until she had accidentally stepped on it. It was not one of the shapes on the screen, so all of the others faded away. Everyone did a facepalm.

"Sorry!" Rikku apologized, blushing.

"It's alright. Everyone," Auron said, getting their attention. "Step on your respective lights."

They all grinned as one by one they realized why he had placed them at the already activated tiles: in case of an event like this. Rikku smiled the widest.

"Smart cookie," she said. She thought she detected a smile from him, as well.

He told her to step on one of the lights, then he activated one more and the screen flashed once, displaying a new set.

"We gotta do more?" Wakka asked. As one of the Yevon symbols began to glow, he sighed.

"Five more," Yuna said.

Four glowing Yevon symbols later, Auron called everyone back to the screen again. He studied it carefully before turning to face them.

"Yuna," he said softly, "I ask you not as a guardian, but as a friend: do you still wish to go through with this?"

Everyone stared. Her eyes met the floor in sadness and in thought. "Yes."

"Yuna, if—"

He stopped, erasing what he was about to say. He merely stepped around her and onto the blue tiles. "If that is what you wish."

He felt Tidus's glare burn a hole into his back as he made his way around the room and activated the lights slowly, one by one without telling anyone to stand by them. Maybe he'd hoped that he would make a mistake and be forced to do it again, extending Yuna's all too short time on Spira. Maybe it was his reluctance…

He did not make a mistake, and suddenly the shapes that he had activated flashed in a sequence each with their own note, playing the Hymn of the Fayth. The six Yevon symbols began to glow.

"Get ready," Auron said.

"For what?"

Suddenly the walls around them blackened and the ground under their feet disappeared, giving them the image that they were floating in another universe. The six symbols made six platforms, and everyone quickly stepped on them as to avoid falling into the blue abyss below. Rikku, not finding another vacant symbol, immediately jumped to Auron's platform. He gave her a nod and stepped slightly in front of her.

A creature that looked like a very volatile praying mantis with horns and glowing wings floated up from the blue below, roaring.

"That."

"Whoa!" Wakka gave a wide eyed smile.

"We really have our work cut out for us, it seems," Lulu said in response.

"Be careful, everyone!" Yuna advised, preparing herself.

The Spectral Keeper swung its long arms at the people to its front, barely giving Wakka, Auron, Rikku, and Tidus any warning. They all somehow managed to narrowly dodge its sharp knives-for-arms.

"Gotta watch that," Tidus said, jumping out of the way of its long tail before dishing out a counterattack. It connected smoothly, and the Keeper roared again.

"This'll be easy!" Rikku squealed.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Auron said as the creature turned toward them and he blocked its tail with his sword. Realizing that he and Tidus were too powerful, it turned around to attack Lulu, Yuna and Kimahri with another sweep of its arms. It only hit Kimahri, who dealt the best counterattack he could before Yuna quickly cast a cure spell. Lulu doublecasted, and Auron and Rikku attacked at once.

The platform under Wakka, Auron's and Rikku's feet began to glow brighter. Auron quickly grabbed Rikku and pushed her over to Tidus's platform while he ran past them to Yuna's.

"Wakka, move!" he ordered, and the blitzball player jumped to Lulu's just before the glyph mines were activated and there was an explosion on the two platforms.

"That was a close one, ya?" Wakka said. "Hey guys, move when the symbol starts to glow."

"Right!"

They went a long time without having to move, mostly because Auron went well about blocking the beast's arms when they swung around and effectively pinning them down by sticking his sword at the point where they crossed. Everyone would attack a few times before he was forced to let go to dodge the tail, which whipped around furiously in an attempt to slice them.

Then Yuna's and Tidus's platforms began to glow and they jumped to new ones on the other side of the beast, with Auron and Rikku joining up again as Tidus took a platform with Yuna. The three attacked at once while Yuna cast a quick cure spell on those she thought had been injured, then Lulu and Wakka pulled off a move together where Lulu set Wakka's blitzball on fire as he hurled it at the Keeper.

Auron was just about to attack when he stopped completely, staring. The black robed figure had appeared on an empty platform beside his and Rikku's, and suddenly he felt the same energy flowing through him that he had that morning. He sprang forward and swung his sword, dealing major damage to the Keeper judging by the way it screamed. The glyph mine suddenly exploded under the stranger's feet, and he was gone again.

But the energy was not; he attacked alongside Rikku once more, striking a major blow. Lulu doublecasted shortly after, and their ears began to ring as the creature shrieked louder and louder. Kimahri drove his spear into the middle of its stomach, and it gave one last cry before Tidus silenced it with a slice.

It quite literally exploded before a shell of its form began to glow, pouring pyreflies by the second. The spirits sighed as they faded to nothing, and the trials began to take shape around them again.

Soon they were sure that they were standing on blessed, solid ground and they gathered before the Yevon symbols, watching as each one joined with the others in the center of the hole. A small bridge extended out to a platform that rose to their level.

"Yuna…we're here."

The summoner turned to Auron, who still had an unreadable expression.

"The hall of the Final Summoning." she said, her voice barely above whisper.

He paused. "Go."

Yuna bowed, stepping onto the platform. "Yes."

Their eyes all followed her until she disappeared below the ground, all of their hearts sinking with her. They were in the process of preparing for a long wait when Jecht's voice rang out from ten years ago for all to hear.

"Huh? What do you mean no Final Aeon?!"

They heard the platform rise again with Yuna, and she spoke even before it stopped.

"Sir Auron!" she cried, then upon reaching the top, "Everyone!"

They all practically leaped to the platform, and it began to descend again, down, down, down into the holy Chamber of the Fayth. Holy?

_I think not._

* * *

So…tired…-falls over-

But it was fun to write the Spectral Keeper fight; I've always wanted to.

I'm afraid I'll be busy packing and vacationing for the next few days, so this may be the last update you'll get for a little bit. Don't' worry, though! You might get lucky! (Remember, I'm bringing a laptop.)

Oh…and please tell me if my quality actually does begin to slip. Not only will you bring it to my attention, I will, in turn, be able to fix it. I will try to put less pressure on myself from now on to stop those weird dreams so I can keep conscious while I write.

Heh…I just tried to imagine myself collapsing on my keyboard…it didn't work too well…

-Ari Elisianete


	9. Mega Death

It's here! It's here! Itshereitshereitshereitshereitshereitshere!! Like, zo my goshelz!

I apologize for the long wait. That nightmare shook me more than I expected to. I was even afraid to write for a few days! Being an Auron fan and all, these scenes are important to me and I'd never forgive myself if I butchered them. Err…anyway, I think I made up for the wait by making the chapter extra long. -coughtwentytwopagescough-

Let me just say that I had a lot of fun writing the Yunalesca fight…especially because Auron got to use a badass line from Disney. Heh heh…

* * *

The Chamber of the Fayth: a small room in which summoners prayed and obtained the aeon that corresponded with the temple. In the center of the floor was a statue made to resemble said aeon, encased in crystal and remaining untouched since its creation, whenever that might have been. Usually the statue was illuminated and gave off a serene sense of life, but…

"This isn't a fayth," Yuna said, "It's just an empty statue."

They all stared. How could there be no fayth? It was—

"That statue lost its power long ago," the ghost from the dome's entrance said from behind. "It is Lord Zaon, the first fayth of the final summoning; what you see before you is all that is left of him. Lord Zaon is…" the man trailed off in regret. "His soul is gone."

"Gone?!" Wakka— being probably the most faithful Yevonite of the group—gasped.

"You mean…there is no Final Aeon?" Rikku asked. Auron found it hard to tell if she was disappointed or relieved. She was probably wondering what she _should_ feel.

"But fear not," the ghost continued, "Lady Yunalesca will show you the path; the Final Aeon will be yours. The summoner and the Final Aeon will join powers." He gestured to the soft blue field before them. "Go to her now. Inside, the lady awaits."

He faded into the background in both their visions and their minds. Yuna stepped toward the field without hesitation.

_Is she that eager to die?_ Auron thought.

_**Question it not, little one. You are nearly there…**_

Auron ignored the stranger's voice as Tidus called out to their summoner.

"Yuna, wait!" She did so, but did not turn. Tidus glared at Auron again. "Auron, you knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" His voice was low and grim, the way it had always gotten when he was simultaneously sad and angry. Auron suppressed a sigh.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Rikku asked in that innocent voice of hers. He hated to not answer her completely, but it was necessary. He stepped forward and looked her straight in the eye.

"If I had told you the truth," he began, "Would that really have stopped you from coming?" No better way to avoid an answer than to throw out another question.

For some reason the voice began to laugh hysterically at the very front of his mind. Auron turned away so no one could see his expression as he pushed it away, stomping it down for good measure.

"Yuna." Kimahri said her name in a low manner that could be interpreted several different ways. Yuna balled her hands into fists.

"I'm not going back," she replied. The Ronso stood beside her.

"Kimahri knows," he said, "Kimahri go first. Yuna is safe. Kimahri protect."

Yuna paused before smiling up at him gratefully as he ducked through the opening, the now ominous blue aura appearing to swallow him. There was no hesitation on her part as she followed, but there was plenty from the others. Wakka and Lulu crossed the aura quickly, appearing nervous. Everyone's heads were spinning as they tried to predict the next events, but Auron knew that they would never foresee what was really to come.

Tidus gave him one last look before ducking through; he ignored it. The look that he found he could not ignore, however, was the one that came from Rikku.

Her eyes were full of fear and anticipation, and as he stared back he found himself softening for her; he couldn't look away.

"What's going to happen?" she asked softly. Was she even aware of the iron grip she had on his mind? It was a moment before he had found the strength to turn away and sink through the blue haze, listening for her trailing close behind.

* * *

The circular room still had a mockingly crimson carpet that ran up a grand staircase, leading all the way past double doors at the top. Pyreflies slid about the air above in their moaning chorus, occasionally casting an eerie glow across the aged, bronzing pillars that loomed around the room when they slid too low.

Auron tried to ignore his unnatural awareness of the spirits; it made him sick to feel so many scattered souls in one place. But even before the double doors groaned in protest to her arrival and Rikku squealed, saying "Someone's coming," he had sensed Yunalesca's presence well before. She stepped forward and completely into sight, not even bothering to acknowledge him.

She hadn't changed at all in ten years—well, she hadn't changed in a thousand either, so ten wouldn't make much of a difference. She was exceedingly pale and her hair was white and flowing, reaching all the way down to her ankles. The only things left to her were the grimace-worthy nonexistent pants and the revealing top that resembled vines…or tentacles. When she spoke, her voice was smooth with age.

"Welcome to Zanarkand," she greeted, extending her arm out in an unneeded gesture. "I congratulate you, summoner, for completing you pilgrimage. I will now bestow upon you that which you seek: the Final Summoning…will be yours."

She began to descend the steps. "Now, choose."

The party—excluding Auron—gave her an overall confused look.

Yunalesca stopped. "You must choose the one whom I will change...to become the fayth for the Final Summoning."

It was a bit awkward to be in a room where everyone gasped but yourself. Auron felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders while another, heavier one had replaced it.

"There must be a bond between chosen and summoner, for that is what the Final Aeon embodies: the bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends. If that bond is strong enough, its light will conquer Sin." She seemed in another place then, as if in remembrance. "A thousand years ago, I chose my husband Zaon as my fayth. Our bond was true, and I obtained the Final Aeon."

Yuna's expression must have been aghast, for Yunalesca began an attempt at comfort. "There is nothing to fear," she said soothingly, "You will soon be freed of worry and pain. For once you call forth the Final Aeon, your life will end. Death is the ultimate and final liberation."

_What a _pleasant_ way to put it,_ Auron thought just as he began to feel the pyreflies react to his memories. He willed them to leave him and his mind alone, but it was no use.

"Your father, Braska, chose this path."

The specters of Auron's former self, Jecht, and Braska appeared yet again. Auron immediately launched into protest.

"It is not too late!" he said, "Let us turn back!"

Braska was already a ways up the stairs when he stopped and turned his head, a grim air overwhelming his features.

"If I turn back, who will defeat Sin?" he asked. "Would you rather have some other summoner and his guardians go through this?"

"But…"

Anything but lose his friends. That was what he would have said, had he not been wise enough to hold his tongue. "My lord, there must be another way!"

"This is the only way we got now!" Jecht said in his rough voice, crossing his arms. "Fine. Make me the fayth."

He tipped his head to the ceiling. "I've been doing some thinking. My dream is back in the other Zanarkand. I wanted to make that runt into a star blitz player, show him the view from the top, you know. But now I know there's no way home for me. I'm never gonna see him again; my dream's never gonna come true." He took a determined stance to repeat himself, "So make me the fayth. I'll fight Sin with you, Braska. Then maybe my life will have meaning, you know."

"Don't do this, Jecht!" Auron pleaded. "If you live...there may be another way! We'll think of something, I know!"

He grunted. "Believe me, I thought this through. Besides...I ain't gettin' any younger, so I might as well make myself useful."

Yunalesca saw it fit to leave, and slipped quietly through the double doors once more.

"Jecht." Braska said the name softly, but Jecht still rounded on the man.

"What! You're not gonna try to stop me, too?"

"Sorry. I mean...thank you."

Jecht smiled and put his hand on the summoner's shoulder. "Braska still has to fight Sin, Auron. Guard him well. Make sure he gets there."

Auron cast his gaze to the ground.

"Well, let's go."

"Lord Braska, Jecht!" He had turned to them again, more than ready to make another attempt to stop them.

"What do you want now?"

"Sin always comes back," Auron pointed out. "It comes back after the Calm every time! The cycle will continue and your deaths will mean _nothing_!"

"But there's always a chance it won't come back this time," Braska countered. "It's worth trying."

"I understand what you're saying, Auron. I'll find a way to break the cycle," Jecht said, trying to sound reassuring.

"You…have a plan?"

"Jecht?"

"Trust me," he said, "I'll think of something."

His laughter rang out across the room as he and Braska turned away and proceeded through the double doors. The summoner took one last look at Auron's pleading face before the doors slammed shut, sounding the drum of death for all to hear.

Rikku, eyes wide, glanced at the real Auron, blinking at the fact that he had his sword drawn. He was gripping it so tightly that his glove was stretching tightly over his large hand. The specter of his former self fell to his knees in defeat, and the current strode over to him.

He stared at himself for a moment before he began to swing his sword with utmost strength through the figure, three times total with wordless cries to match. The specter vanished as the pyreflies fled in pain and fear, and Auron straightened. He bowed his head to cover even more of his face, just like he had after Rikku had swiped his sunglasses. Only now he was not flustered—he was miserable.

"And…" he swallowed, "the cycle went on."

For the first time he was unable to predict how the others were going to respond, that including even Tidus; he felt their eyes on his back as they tried to comprehend his reasons for acting as he just had. He turned ever so slightly and remained silent when Tidus began to mirror his father yet again.

"We'll break it."

"But how?" Wakka asked the blonde. "What, you got a plan now?"

Tidus appeared at a momentary loss for words, and Lulu drew herself up confidently.

"If one of us has to become a fayth…" she said to Yuna, "Then I volunteer."

And Wakka, given the state of mind he had for the black mage, followed close behind. "Me too, Yuna!"

"That still won't change anything, you know? You'd bring the calm, and then what?" Tidus shook his fist as his side. "That won't break the cycle!"

"Listen...You wanna defeat Sin and keep Yuna alive...you don't want Sin to come back, ya? That is just not gonna happen, brudda, you know?"

Lulu's red eyed gaze settled on Wakka in agreement. "If you want everything, you will end up with nothing."

_Wise words._

"But I _want_ everything!"

_Foolish words…_

"Now you're being childish!"

"I give up! So what would an _adult_ do, then? They know they can just throw away a summoner, then they can do whatever they like."

That struck a blow to all of their egos; now it was everyone else's turn to be silent.

"You're right," Tidus continued. "I might not even have a chance. But no way am I gonna just stand here and let Yuna go. And what Auron said about there being a way..."

He cast a glance at the man. "I believe it's true."

"'You'll think of something?'" Rikku said, quoting him. Tidus stared down at his clenched fist in thought.

"I'll go ask Yunalesca. She's got to know something."

"You really think she'll help you?" asked the Al Bhed.

"I don't know, but I have to try." A confident look crossed his face. "This is my story. It'll go the way I want it…or I'll end it here."

"Wait."

Yuna had walked over to stand beside him, looking deep into his eyes. "You say it's your story, but it's my story, too, you know? It would be so easy to let my fate just carry me away, following this same path my whole life through. But I know...I can't."

She assumed the same determined expression. "What I do, I do…with no regrets."

Tidus smiled down at her as he began to come up with ways to ask Yunalesca about the Final Summoning.

They all turned to survey the double doors at the top of the staircase, and an unspoken, mutual decision passed through them. They began to climb them, all remembering the last look that Braska had given.

_So, we confront Yunalesca, then._ What was going to happen next? Auron abruptly realized that he was just as blind as everyone else as to what was to occur. No one had attacked the witch on their own as of yet, and for that he was overly glad. What he didn't hold much welcome for was the _yet_ in that concept. He was as much in the dark as they were now, and he did not like that feeling at all…

* * *

It was as if they had stepped into another universe, another world altogether. They ascended the short flight of broken steps and stepped out onto a large stone platform that hovered over a black abyss. Out toward the other side of the platform was a circular symbol with Yevon's crest in the center, glowing with power. Stars hung faintly overhead, pulsing right along with the symbol.

Yunalesca began to fade into existence as she walked forward, stopping on what she must have assumed was the seat of power—the Yevon symbol.

"Have you chosen the one to become your fayth?" she asked, scanning over them to evidently guess out her victim. "Who will it be?"

"Might I ask something first?" Yunalesca nodded curtly and allowed the summoner to continue. "Will Sin come back even should I use the Final Summoning to defeat it?"

"Sin is eternal," the Unsent explained, "Every aeon that defeats it becomes Sin in its place...and thus is Sin reborn."

Auron saw an expression pass over Tidus that signaled the fact that everything was clicking into place.

"So that's why Jecht became Sin," he muttered.

"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny. It is neverending."

"Neverending?" Wakka asked incredulously. "But...but...if we atone for our crimes, Sin will stop coming back, ya? Someday, it'll be gone, ya?"

Yunalesca looked him over with an unreadable expression. "Will humanity ever attain such purity?"

Lulu rushed forward. "This...this cannot be!" her words came out as if strained. "The teachings state that we can exorcise Sin with complete atonement! It's been our only hope all these years!"

Yunalesca gave her the same look. "Hope is…comforting. It allows us to escape fate, however tragic it might be."

"No!" Tidus shouted in denial, just as another did the same.

"No!"

The specter of former Auron appeared yet again, this time in a fighting stance at the front of the group, his sword drawn.

"Where is the sense in all this?" he cried, making an X in the air with his sword as he ranted, his voice shaking. "Braska believed in Yevon's teachings and died for them! Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him!"

Yunalesca gave him her now trademarked unreadable stare.

"They chose to die…because they had hope."

Auron seemed to snap. He suddenly charged at the woman with a wordless cry and raised his sword high above him as he leapt at her with the intention of cleaving her in half and chopping the rest into miniscule pieces. But just as the sword began to descend, Yunalesca raised her hand and a barrier surrounded her. The sword hadn't so much as touched it when the magic split into sharp arcs and shot straight at him.

The party gasped; the real Auron couldn't stop watching.

The former Auron flew backwards through the air, his sword leaving his hand. As he passed, they all saw only a fraction of the damage that had just been done. Some of their stomachs churned, while others stared in horror. A gash now stood out on the right side of Auron's face, running straight through his eye. The wound gaped and bled fiercely, undoubtedly bringing unbearable pain. The other cuts on his body weren't visible but the arcs had hit their mark.

Auron fell on his neck, then flipped once more to lay on his stomach.

He did not move.

Auron stole a glance at the others, catching half of them taking a look at him. Yuna's eyes narrowed while Rikku raised her hands to cover a gape. Her eyes began to narrow in anger as well. He would have given anything to know what she was thinking then. But his own thoughts were still wrapped around the question "_Is that really what I'd looked like?_" His former self, thankfully, began to fade away.

"Yevon's teachings and the Final Summoning give the people of Spira hope."

_Bitch,_ thought Rikku.

"Without hope, they would drown in their sorrow."

_Slut! Why would you _do_ something like that?!_

"Now, choose," Yunalesca ordered, "Who will be your fayth? Who will be the one to renew Spira's hope?"

"No one," Yuna replied. "I would have gladly died. I live for the people of Spira, and would have gladly died for them. But no more! The Final Summoning...is a false tradition that should be thrown away!"

"No. It's our only hope. Your father sacrificed himself to give that hope to the people. So they would forget sorrow."

_How _wrong_ you are,_ Auron thought.

"Wrong. My father..." Yuna trailed off to find the right words. "My father wanted...to make Spira's sorrow go away, not just cover it up with lies!"

"Sorrow cannot be abolished. It is meaningless to try."

"My father...I loved him. So I...I will live with my sorrow, I will live my own life! I will defeat sorrow in his place. I will stand my ground and be strong. I don't know when it will be but someday, I will conquer it."

Yuna balled her hands into fists, clutching her staff. "And I will do it without false hope!"

"Poor creature. You would throw away hope." Yunalesca shook her head, genuine pity filling her voice. "Well...I will free you before you can drown in your sorrow. It is better for you to die in hope than to live in despair."

She raised her hands, calling power to her. "Let me be your liberator."

"Now!" Auron cried to the others. "This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow!" He swung his sword for emphasis. "Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!"

It was probably one of the most motivational speeches they had ever heard in their lives; either that or it was just a way to say 'get ready to fight or you'll get your ass kicked.' It was most likely the former.

Kimahri spun his spear. "Yuna needs Kimahri. Kimahri protect Yuna."

"Well, I'm fighting!" Rikku announced.

"I can't believe we're gonna fight Lady Yunalesca! Gimme a break," Wakka said.

"You can always run," Lulu pointed out.

"Hah! I'd never forgive myself—no way! Not if I ran away now. Even in death, ya!"

"My thoughts exactly."

Something that looked quite like a segment of an oversized snake shot out of Yunalesca's body and into the ground, sprouting curved, purple razors.

"Yuna!" Tidus called. "This is our story! Now let's see it through together!"

Yuna smiled, drawing strength from the determination in his eyes. Auron turned to look at Rikku, who seemed a bit angry. Just a bit.

"Let's get her!" she said to him encouragingly. He raised an eyebrow, then nodded.

_I don't need much more motivation._

Tidus didn't hesitate at all as he ran up to the witch and struck her, running his sword straight through her body. There was no blood or wound to show it, but she had been hurt; she winced and proceeded to knock Tidus back a ways with light magic. He flew through the air but landed smoothly and unharmed, much to Auron's relief.

She snarled, realizing that they were not to be underestimated. She crouched low and spread her arms, and suddenly the…_thing_ that was attached to her back pulled her higher as more of the creature's body rose from the ground. Tentacles rose along with it, creating a platform for her to stand on and exactly seven weapons that could be used against them. They were thick and laced with a sort of juice that looked just short of toxic. How convenient.

Yunalesca's tentacles shot at each of them and whacked them several good times, and suddenly their breath became green when they exhaled.

"What is this?!" Tidus asked.

"It's just like the warriors that we encountered on the way here," Lulu noticed. "Zombie status."

"Esuna!"

Yuna cured everyone immediately.

Now that she looked more like a fiend than a human, it was easy for them to begin their attacks. Auron, Rikku, Tidus and Kimahri ran forward to slice and/ or punch, while Wakka and Lulu performed their now well-practiced fire blitzball move. Yunalesca screamed inhumanly, making it even easier on their consciences. Casting a spell that blurred nearly everyone's vision, she struck Auron with a non-toxic tentacle. It was light enough to be ignored, but hard enough that he realized that she finally knew he was here and wanted him dead. Again.

As soon as he was cured, he drove his sword straight through the snake's body and _that_ screamed from somewhere he couldn't see, meaning that there was still more of a gut wrenching creature for them to face. They needed to lure the rest out, but how?

Yuna cast Holy and orbs of white spun around Yunalesca before zooming into the sky. Auron and Rikku barely had time to leap out of the way before beams of light shot down from above and through her; the creature screamed again. That had gotten its attention.

They heard Lulu give a cry of pain behind them and whipped around to check on her. Wakka had crouched beside her to support her on her knees—a wound had been given to her straight across her chest, flaunting how deep it was by bleeding excessively. Suddenly Wakka was knocked back as blood flew from a serious wound on both of his arms, rendering him useless. He lay on his back, grimacing.

What was happening? They were being dispatched so easily!

Auron looked down just in time to dodge the tentacle that emerged from the ground in an attempt to help him meet the same fate. He yanked Rikku out of the way of her own assailant. He could tell where the tentacles were coming from by the way the ground grew dark for a split second before they shot from the floor, and he relayed this information to the others.

Yuna, who had tried to close the wounds on the others but was only successful in making them shallower, nodded in acknowledgement, as did Tidus and Kimahri. However, the moment's delay cost the Ronso dearly; he was soon injured across his arm and back. Blood gleamed in his fur as he tried to move on, but several more tentacles struck him down. He kneeled in a grudging defeat.

Auron and Rikku were back to back now, dodging tentacles and moving in a circle while they moved closer to Yunalesca to strike. Tidus was faring the same way as Yuna guarded herself and advised Tidus on his direction. He occasionally chopped a tentacle or two in half.

_Why isn't it coming?_

Auron and Rikku struck at the same moment, earning a cry from the creature once more. They leaped back expecting a nasty counterattack, but there was none. Instead, Yunalesca began to sink into the ground, disappearing completely below the surface. Auron ordered them to keep up their guard, and it was worth it; the creature reared its ugly head…literally. It was a serpent with a human head that sprouted several more miniature snakes from where its hair would have been. It opened its mouth and a long tongue that seemed covered in toxin rolled out.

"I didn't know it was possible for her to get any uglier," Tidus commented. A tentacle suddenly whipped around to strike his back as another wrapped around his waist and lifted him, pulling him away from the three remaining and rendering him helpless. He squirmed for a moment before his eyes widened.

"Yuna!" he cried, trying to warn her. It was too late; another tentacle swept her off her feet and lifted her to hang at the creature's head's side as another knocked the staff from her hands.

Auron immediately began to rush forward to free her, but he stopped at the sound of Rikku's scream. He turned just as a tentacle grabbed _her_, lifting her into the air to hang on the other side. He reached for her as she flew away, unable to avoid the strike that followed. A tentacle crashed into him and sent him flying away from the creature while simultaneously knocking the wind out of him. He used the subsequent flip to recover. Tidus's captor released him only to slash him across the arm and land him over at the disabled group.

And suddenly, Auron was alone.

Yunalesca laughed from her perch atop the serpent's back. "What will you do, now, 'Legendary' Sir Auron? A little pyrefly told me that that is how you are referred to now."

His eye narrowed as he began to think of a way to free the two girls. He couldn't try and free one before the other, but he couldn't just attack her head on—that would only be a second suicide, if that was possible.

_**Oh, can't you?**_

No, of course he couldn't.

He looked into Yuna's eyes, and then into Rikku's. Both held fear, but the fears were different. One was the fear that if she died now, she wouldn't be able to die soon later. But the other…the other, the emeralds, were filled with the fear that she would not live to see the things she had wanted to see, to say what she had wanted to say. The fear of not being able to live and grow old and die when came the time.

_Protect the summoner at all costs! What is wrong with me?_

But he couldn't move. He was paralyzed with his own fear: the fear that if he attempted to save them that they would all die because of his failure to do so. He clutched his sword in frustration.

"Auron, do something!" Tidus yelled.

"No one attacks me," Yunalesca said. "You will pay for trying such a thing; all of you!"

And then he heard a sound that he never wanted to hear again in life or death, a sound that made even his mind freeze in pure, unadulterated fear:

Rikku, shrieking in pain.

His eye locked on her as he determined the cause. Yunalesca had drawn a sharp tentacle to Rikku's face and was now making a deep gash on her right cheek, slowly heading straight for her eye.

Anger flared straight from his heart as he felt a now familiar, inhuman energy fill him with power, pure, sweet power. He felt the fire course through his veins; it was stronger than ever before, overwhelming nearly all of his senses.

He raised his sword and roared with rage as the energy overpowered him and poured out through his arms into the weapon. He swung it horizontally, too furious to be surprised at what emerged.

An arc of white hot light shot through the air and crashed into the creature's head with a sickening explosion, earning a cry from the monster that made everyone's ears ring. Rikku and Yuna were released and they dropped to the ground, stumbling before running past Auron, who looked only a little satisfied at the pain he had caused her.

"Thank you," Yuna said as she ran past. Auron completely ignored her and began to walk forward before breaking into a dead run to leap at Yunalesca and bring his sword down upon the creature's head. He slashed one, good time before he was forced to jump a ways out of the way of her tentacles.

Yunalesca sagged, but the head reared up and opened its mouth to let the tongue lash out again. An orb of red light began to form as the tongue wrapped around it—it was a moment before Auron knew the name of the attack she was using: an attack called Mega Death.

Mega Death, the instant killer, the Devil's Cry, etcetera. From the orb that was forming now would shoot a beam that always hit its mark no matter how hard the victim tried to escape. Once it had met the victim, a soul reaper would appear and do exactly what its name described, then it would move on to the person in the immediate vicinity who had been one of the subjects of the previous victim's thoughts. If there was no one there that the victim had thought about, then the reaper would disappear. That was one of the only two ways that Mega Death was slightly preventable; if the person it was aimed at went completely braindead just as the beam hit. That way, all others would be saved.

The other way, however, was to destroy the delicate orb from which the beam emerged. But Mega Death was fast. Very fast. And the creature was looking straight at Auron.

Regardless, Auron began to charge in hopes of crushing the orb before it was too late—but the orb began to glow brighter and brighter until it wasn't easy to look at. It gave a high pitched laugh as the reaper began to fade into existence, staff gleaming with the blood of its dead victims. He heard a weak voice call out from behind him and at first assumed that it was one of the others voicing his name in helplessness, but then he understood what had been said.

"Flare," Lulu whispered, pointing her palm at the pulsating orb, watched closely by the others. Fire circled it briefly before crushing it with heat and magic energy, shattering Yunalesca's chance to kill them at last. But the action did not go unnoticed by the witch; another whiplike tentacle cracked in the air and slashed across the side of their black mage's neck, injuring her once again.

Auron was now completely seething with rage, which was enough to give him a surplus amount of strength even though the mysterious power had left him a long time ago. Yunalesca's hellish creature melted away in a mix of black and red smoke, and Auron began to walk slowly toward her. The fight was over and done, they all knew. But Auron was not.

"How _dare_ you." He reached down and grabbed a handful of her snow white hair, pulling her face up to look at him. "_How dare you treat my friends so shamefully!_"

Her eyes widened as he took one last step back and drew himself up, his sword balanced on his shoulder. He swung it straight through her neck with all his might, putting all of his pent up rage and hatred for his murderer in that one strike. There was, again, no blood nor wound, but she gave a cry of pain and collapsed. He had won, finally; he turned away to begin to walk toward his wide eyed, waiting comrades.

She raised a hand in desperation, and an orb of red materialized in her waiting palm. He whipped around just as the high pitched laugh of the reaper sounded a second time.

The beam shot.

The next few things happened very fast, almost too fast to correctly remember: there was a streak of black as the stranger appeared once again in front of him, though he was facing away. The man raised his hand and knocked the beam away with the back of his fist, where it crashed harmlessly into the nearby wall. He then bent over and gave a long, inhuman hiss at the witch, his hands writhing and beginning to resemble something more along the lines of claws. He cut off with a gasp, however, and grasped his head with his hands—or claws—and seemed as if he was in some sort of mental struggle.

Yunalesca positioned herself as if she had been about to scramble away but had decided against it. "You!"

The stranger slowly straightened, regaining his composure. His hands returned to normal.

"Woah! Who is he?" Tidus asked. Rikku stared.

"You can see him?"

Auron turned to stare at her. "_You_ can see him?" Better to make it look like he hadn't already known.

"Ehh…" she trailed off.

The stranger chuckled, and for the first time his voice came in the form of sound: a low, ever-calm tone. "This one has abused her powers and has wronged someone who is very important," he said. "Now she must die."

"If I die, so does the Final Aeon," Yunalesca said. "And with it, Spira's only hope."

"I could care less about the Final Aeon, and I could _not_ care less about Spira's hope. Spira may rot, for all I care."

Yunalesca stared, wide eyed.

"I had come to kill you, but I see the job has already been done for me." He smiled slyly. "Good luck with that whole 'find Spira a new hope' concept that you were about to mention."

He turned to Tidus, who was already gaping. But then he noticed Rikku. His jaw dropped ever so slightly as he appeared drawn to her.

"You…are you..?" He approached slowly. "No…but you look so much like her…"

Rikku drew back as he reached forward with the intent to place a hand on her cheek. He stopped, appearing hurt. It was then that he vanished.

Auron had almost been about to run over and cleave the man in half just as he had Yunalesca.

_**Why aren't you forgetting, little one? You must be immune to my powers. How very interesting.**_

_Wait,_ Auron thought to the voice (gee, that sounded sane), _what was that power that_ I_ used just now?_

There was no reply. His thoughts broke when Yunalesca spoke again.

"If I die, so does the Final Aeon. And with it, Spira's only hope."

She had just said that. Why—

_**Ahh, sweet immunity. Be thankful that your memory and will are strong.**_

"Then we'll find Spira a new hope!" Tidus said.

_Their memories have been tampered with._ Then, in hopes that the stranger was still present, _Just who are you?_

Another silent treatment; Auron let it go quite reluctantly.

"Fool. There is no other way. Even if there was...even if you did destroy Sin, Yu Yevon the immortal would only create Sin anew."

"Yu Yevon!?"

"Ah…Zaon, forgive me," she pleaded to the memory of her dead husband, "Spira has been robbed of the light of hope...All that remains is sorrow."

The pyreflies that had been pouring out of her now finished their ascent and faded away, taking Yunalesca's form and life with them.

"I cannot believe what we just did," Yuna gasped, proceeding to heal their wounds completely. The heat of battle did not allow enough time for the proper attention needed to perform such spells as the new cure spell she had learned on the way to the Zanarkand dome. As she worked, Tidus cast a fierce glare at Auron.

"Why did you hesitate?" he asked furiously. "Whatever happened to 'protect the summoner at all costs,' huh?"

"I was…under pressure," Auron replied.

"You choked!"

"Tidus," Yuna voiced his name quietly.

Auron sighed. "There is something that you should know."

Tidus grunted. "What, are you gonna tell us that you were 'secretly in love with Yunalesca, and that it just _killed_ you on the inside to take her life?'" Tidus began to laugh.

"I am also an Unsent."

The laughter stopped, and the silence that followed was deafening. The blonde looked down while Yuna slowly raised a hand to cover her mouth. Kimahri didn't react much at all, while Wakka and Lulu showed the same high level of surprise. Rikku's eyes widened, and Auron froze. He had not once stopped to think about how the girl would react to this piece of news. She…would never look at him the same way again. Suddenly, he dreaded the next few minutes.

"When Braska and Jecht died defeating Sin...I just couldn't accept it," he told them. "I came back here...tried to avenge them. But she struck me down. Somehow I made my way, crawling, down Mount Gagazet. But my strength left me just outside Bevelle. That's where Kimahri found me." He nodded to the Ronso. "I told him about you, Yuna...just before I died. I've been wandering ever since, never going to the Farplane."

He looked away. "And squaring off against your own murderer for the second time is…unnerving."

Tidus looked up. "Auron…"

"Don't make that face," he said. "Being dead has its advantages. I was able to ride Sin and go to your Zanarkand."

"And you've been watching over me since then, haven't you? Why? What's the big idea? Why me?"

Auron paused, trying to find the right words. "It is one of those things that is difficult to explain. Very well, I will show you."

He kneeled and closed his solitary eye in concentration as pyreflies began to emerge from him. "My memories."

They floated over a ways before forming the former Auron, Jecht, and Braska yet again. Braska was at the front of the group, while Jecht was right behind him and facing away from Auron to rub the back of his neck in a slightly embarrassed fashion.

"Can I ask you one last favor? Uh...Nah. Never mind."

"Out with it!" Auron ordered. Jecht turned around.

"Okay, listen good. Take care of my son."

Auron looked away for a moment in confusion as Jecht continued. "My son, in Zanarkand. He's such a crybaby. He needs someone there to hold his hand, see? Take care of him, will you?"

"But how am I supposed to go to Zanarkand?"

"Hey! You said it yourself! There must be a way to get there, right? You'll find it!"

Auron paused. "All right, I will!" he vowed. "I give you my word. I'll take care of your son. I'll guard him with my life."

Jecht suddenly walked forward and pulled Auron into an embrace. "Thanks, Auron. You were always such a stiff, but that's what I liked about you!"

The specters faded away just as Yunalesca had, though some of the pyreflies circled their master once or twice before leaving.

"That is why."

The pyreflies had been proof, but…for some of them, it still hadn't registered that Auron was a dead man walking. For Yuna, however, it had. She stepped forward, holding her staff at her front.

"Sir Auron, I should—"

"I do not wish to be sent," Auron interrupted. "Nor can I be, yet."

Yuna looked up at him curiously.

"I cannot be sent because I have not resolved the reason I became an Unsent in the first place," Auron explained. "To send someone who is unwilling to go takes a tremendous amount of energy—energy that you do not have."

Yuna nodded. "I see…Then it is my duty as a summoner to help you with those reasons."

"I'm already in the middle of doing so. The goal to fulfill my promises to Jecht and Braska; that is what kept me with the world."

He scanned over the group once more. "You wish to speak?" he asked Wakka.

The redhead scratched the back of his neck. "Ehh…just, I knew you were always different, ya? But not like this."

"The world is full of surprises," Lulu agreed.

"Why didn't you tell me when you came to watch over me in Zanarkand?" Tidus asked.

Auron chuckled. "If I were you, then I would have been a little unsettled if I found out that a dead man was trying to act as my father figure."

It seemed like the opportune moment to end the conversation, so he strode past the others and down the stairs, disappearing as he descended. They followed without another word.

They all trudged through Yunalesca's chamber—which was now completely devoid of pyreflies—and the trials at mid speed, not sure whether they should be rid of this place as soon as possible or stop to take it in. The debris-ridden hall was much easier to cross now that they had done it once before, and no fiends bothered them as they exited the dome. The sun had just risen outside, dyeing the landscape a multitude of bright colors.

Auron exited first, but immediately stopped.

"We have a visitor."

One by one the party members caught the gasp in their throats—there loomed Sin, illuminated by the sun's fierce glow. It growled because as a creature that is what it did, and Tidus stepped to the front.

"Dad?" he said. "I know. The Final Summoning's gone. But I'll think of something! Just give me a little more time!"

Sin began to turn slowly due to its massive size to slide back into the water just as the airship emerged over the horizon. The two passed each other in opposite directions in silent acknowledgement of each other, though there was no doubt that the people on the ship were going spastic at the fact that Sin was within a mile of them. Sin sank deeper until it was finally out of sight while the airship glided down to retrieve their weary travelers.

* * *

The control room was buzzing with excitement…mostly because of a very hyper Brother.

"Frana du huf?" he asked in Al Bhed.

"Aren't we the happy lookin' bunch?" Cid commented.

"Frana? Frana?!"

"'Where, where?' That all you can say?" Rikku scorned. "Why don't you think of something!?"

Auron nodded in agreement. "Well? Any good ideas?"

Tidus put his hands on his hips. "Come on, help us?"

Auron sighed. "What do we know?" he asked, not expecting to be answered. "Sin is Jecht. Thus, you have a link, a bond with Sin. That may be our key."

"So what do we do?"

"We think, and we wait," Auron replied with an end-of-discussion tone. "Rush this and we'll lose everything. We need to plan. Carefully." Well, he wasn't about to let the blonde try and convince everyone to attack immediately without a plan. Tidus groaned.

"Two things I'm bad at."

He strode away, the door hissing shut behind him.

"Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to solving it," Auron muttered. Rikku giggled from her seat at the controls. He walked over to lean against the wall near her.

"Thought of anything good?" she asked.

"I have an idea or two, yes."

"I'm all ears!" she announced, thrusting a hand behind her ear for a moment before settling herself.

"The Hymn."

She looked up at him, confused.

"The Hymn of the Fayth," Auron repeated. "Jecht took a liking to that song from the first moment he heard it; he used to hum it all the time."

"So? What's his taste in music have to do with anything?"

Wakka perked up. "Hey, I think I see where you're going, ya? The Hymn is used to calm people down. If Sin was chillin' out, we could attack it with no problem, ya?"

"It would hopefully reach the real Jecht on the inside, freeing him just a little longer from Sin's mind," Lulu speculated. "A smart plan, Sir Auron."

"Let's tell Tidus when he gets back, ya?"

They all fell silent. Rikku looked down at her intertwined hands and whispered something that Auron didn't catch.

"What?"

"I don't think you're really dead," she said quietly. Auron raised an eyebrow in surprise as she continued. "Dead is when someone has gone to the Farplane and you can't talk to them anymore. You're still here, I can still talk to you, right?" She leaned forward to grin up at him. "I think Unsents are a bunch of people who _think_ they're dead, but they're really not, you know?"

For some reason hearing those words warmed his still heart. He gave her a soft, genuine smile.

"Thank you," he said. "That means…more than you know."

She looked down to cover a blush. "Umm, anytime!"

Just then the door at the back of the room hissed open and Tidus walked in with a somewhat neutral expression. Wakka leaped up.

"Hey, Tidus! I just had a great idea!"

Rikku jumped in front of the redhead, clapping a hand over his mouth.

"Hey, it was _my_ idea, let me tell him!"

Had he been their age, Auron probably would have pouted. _Actually, it was _my_ idea._ But their argument was amusing to watch.

Wakka ducked in front of Rikku.

"It's like this, ya?"

Rikku ducked in front of Wakka.

"I just thought—"

"The Hymn is the key," Lulu said from the side of the room. The two turned to her and groaned at not being able to claim _their_ idea.

"The Hymn?" Tidus repeated.

"Sir Jecht likes the Hymn of the Fayth, correct?"

"Yeah."

"That's why he was listening to it in Macalania!" Rikku said.

"Sin…violence incarnate, listening peacefully." Something told everyone that Lulu was still having a hard time grasping that concept even though she had already seen it once.

"I know it's your old man," Wakka began, "and I don't mean no disrespect, but..."

Tidus waved it off like an annoying insect. "No, it's fine. I've gotten used to it."

"Let me say it," Lulu offered. "If we attack Sin head-on, we've little chance of winning. However, if he hears the Hymn of the Fayth, he will become docile."

"Yeah, and that's when we make our move!" Wakka scratched the back of his head. "Might be against the rules and all, but who's keeping track, ya? Ya?"

"Yeah! It could really work!" Rikku agreed.

Tidus began to understand. "Yeah...yeah, it's worth a try!"

"You spoke with Lady Yuna, I presume?" asked Auron, to which Tidus nodded.

"Yeah, and Kimahri too. They think that we should go see Mika, 'cause he might know something, right?"

"Wise," Auron muttered. "It's back to Bevelle, then."

"Go find Pops and tell him that we've got a bone to pick with a Yevonite!" Rikku ordered. Tidus saluted.

"Roger!"

"Prepare yourselves," Auron advised. "I doubt that the warrior monks will be happy to see us."

"Right!"

* * *

That's it so far! Again, sorry for the wait. I think a vacation was just what I needed, though. I'm sorry to say that the next chapter will be a bit short, but I'm trying to cut off my chapters in all of the right places, you know? Ya do, I know ya do.

Next update comes soon! Keep an eye out, yis?

-Ari Elisianete


	10. Umm, Yes, I Have a Question?

Well hello everyyybodyyyyyy! I am pleased to announce that this chapter is the tenth! Why is that special? 10! One, two digit spaces! YEAH!

…Apparently I am going on _another_ vacation! And my laptop will not be accompanying me…which is why I am going to work on finishing the last chapters before I leave. I will, however, be preparing a special set of chapters that will come _before_ Sin, which I will work on while I'm on said vacation. If you don't pick up the hint in this chapter as to what they'll be about, it's revealed at the end.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Well, we got ourselves quite a wait," Cid announced, "Seeing as we're on the edge of the world!" 

"How long?" Tidus asked anxiously before adding, "So we know when to expect."

"Err…" Cid hummed as he tried to picture the time. "Forty-five minutes to an hour, maybe."

"That's reasonable," Lulu said, "Who wants to rush?"

That question was a bit awkward; everyone wanted to see the end as soon as possible, but there were two that didn't want to rush to their dooms. Tidus's eyebrow twitched, and Auron suppressed a heavy sigh.

"And what are we going to say to Maester Mika once we get there?" Yuna asked.

"Yuna," Tidus began, "This is one of those things that you sorta _have_ to plan as you go."

_That's not entirely true,_ Auron silently and instantly responded, feeling a tinge of amusement at how fast the contradiction had come.

"Sooo…what are we gonna do until we get there?" Rikku wondered aloud, probably becoming bored already.

"Well I'm not just staying in here," Tidus announced. "I'm going to the roof."

* * *

And for some reason, wherever the blonde went the guardians soon followed. Especially Yuna, who was leaning against his side comfortably and staring off into the orange-turning-cerulean horizon with him. Kimahri was leaning against one of the walls to the right of the door. Wakka and Lulu were conversing off to the side while Rikku was pacing back and forth across the span of the airship's roof, occasionally casting glances at Auron who, having grabbed his sword on the way out, was in the process of sharpening it with a very shiny stone that he had produced from his small belt pouch. Each shrill note of the stone sliding across the blade's edge was quickly whisked away by the wind of movement. 

Rikku abruptly made the decision to trot over to sit behind him with her back to his, leaning up against him. He expressed no surprise or discomfort as far as she could tell, even when she reached around and stole his sunglasses to slip onto her face—well, he had shown a little surprise there. But he made no move to stop her and hey, it was getting bright out here! He could survive.

Eventually the wind shifted slightly and brought Wakka and Lulu's conversation to Auron's ears. Something about what they were to do after Sin was gone.

"Concentrate on the present," he advised them, having to raise his voice over the howl of the wind. "And contemplate the future when that's done."

They eyed him in thought for a moment before returning to their talk.

"What do you think Mika's gonna be like when we tell him we've killed Yunalesca?" Rikku asked from behind.

"Dismayed to say the least," Auron replied, stroking his blade with the stone. He had his other hand freed for the sake of saving effort. "Mika is a coward."

"Ehh. I'm glad that we kicked Yunalesca's butt. A life for a life just isn't fair!"

Something clicked in the back of Auron's mind, something that he hadn't thought of for a while. He pushed it away but made sure that the thought remained in his memories.

"He will probably flee," he said.

"Wow. You got something against the guy?"

"Not…personally. He was just one of the few who decided to doom my reputation to obscurity for refusing to marry the high priest's daughter."

"Wha?!" Rikku exclaimed. "You were almost married?"

"Almost _forced_ to be married," Auron corrected. "They pressured and badgered me like the fate of the world depended on my marrying that woman."

"Did you…?" Rikku trailed off for reasons she couldn't explain.

"No, I didn't love her. Not in the least."

Relief. Why did she feel a profound sense of relief?

"I don't think I would have married her anyway," Auron continued. "I was young, and I had no desire to settle so early in life."

Did that mean that he was ready to settle now? She shook the following thoughts away like annoying insects. He was probably laughing hysterically on the inside at the fact that he was telling this to her, a mere girl.

The stone slid across the sword in a steady, grim rhythm that would seem ominous in anyone else's hands, whereas in Auron's it seemed as though it could put her to sleep if she relaxed too much.

"So, does that mean that you served in the Yevon army for a while?"

"For most of my life, yes."

"Hey," Tidus called, jogging over to them while paying no mind to their position. "You were in the Yevon army, right?"

It had always been one of Auron's pet peeves to be asked the same question twice or more by different people. "Yes."

"How do these guys fight?"

It was a moment before he found an answer. "Guns and flamethrowers, that's all they have."

It suddenly occurred to him that he would be up against humans soon instead of fiends, and that he was in the process of sharpening his already powerful sword. He set it aside to abandon the task, his stomach churning. Killing fiends was not the same as killing humans; he almost immediately envied Rikku for her claw. She could deal out as much or as little harm as she wanted, while his weapon could only deal maximum damage. Not good for sparing lives.

Rikku still leaned against his back, relaxing, and for some reason it felt good to have her so close. He thought he could feel her strong heartbeat even through her back, and the instinctual envy began to surface. The envy for the fact that the living were flitting about without cherishing the moments that passed, without taking into pride the fact that they were brain and blood and nerve and, most importantly, alive. Pure, precious life was what filled the walking dead with dark, tainted envy.

He clenched his fist as anger rose and he attempted to stifle the flow. Anger for the fact that he was living while at the same time not. He was in a place where he did not belong, and as an Unsent it angered him.

_**Come.**_

"Eh- hey, you okay?"

His vision blurred as his head was his with a sudden and overwhelming pain. He felt Rikku move to his side to catch his head as he fell, as his consciousness fell to another avatar. The world swirled around him, its features reforming completely and wiping out the sound of anyone calling his name. The ground became solid first; a white, marble floor, followed by copies of the floor as walls. A plain, white marble room.

Auron took a step back, still dizzy. Dizzy enough, in fact, to fall to his knees.

"I wouldn't bow before me just yet, little one."

The voice was so familiar now that he had no need to look up. The white walls seemed to look down upon the black cloaked man with enmity, willing him to leave just as the pyreflies in Zanarkand had done to Auron.

"You may call me Ender," he said before chuckling as if enjoying an inside joke. "After all, I have _ended_ many things before."

A copy of Auron appeared on the wall behind the man, in the midst of swinging his sword. An arc of light which he now noticed was tinted with blue emerged from the swing, and the image froze.

"Flashfire," said Ender. It took him a moment to realize that he was naming the light that had emerged so suddenly from his sword. Auron looked up at him, curious as to why he had begun to chuckle to himself once more.

"The very essence of life, put into destructive and reconstructive form," he continued. "How very amusing. And so unexpected, might I add."

"What's funny about it?" asked Auron. If anything, the other's laugh became stronger.

"Flashfire only appears in the user," Ender said, "when the user is in love."

Auron's eye snapped open and he felt his face heat, whether from anger or embarrassment he had no idea. All he could see was bright, blue sky above, but the wind in his hair told him that he was back on the airship. He then noticed that his head was slightly elevated, and he suddenly found himself staring into two, spiraling emerald eyes.

"You okay?" Rikku asked. "You blacked out for like, ten minutes!"

"Yeah," Tidus said, "You okay?"

"Sir Auron?" Wherever Tidus went, Yuna followed.

He just stared, unable to speak as Ender's words echoed painfully about his mind.

_In love…? I'm in…_

Realizing that with his head resting on Rikku's lap he was all too comfortable, he sat up, leaning slightly to the side to avoid a head collision. Was he okay? No, not really. Not anymore. Jecht was right; he didn't know love even when it stared him in the face…oh, how he hated it when that man was right.

"I'm fine," he mumbled. "Must be tired…haven't slept in a while." A bad excuse, but they seemed to accept it.

Rikku crawled around to his front. "Tired, huh? Well, next time we get the chance, you're gonna rest, got it?" She poked his forehead for emphasis on her _awesome_ willpower.

He stood up to head back inside, grabbing his sword on the way. As he was about to touch the panel on the door that would grant him entrance to the inside of the airship, Kimahri stopped him.

"Auron not just tired," Kimahri said. "Auron fall unconscious for other reason."

He paused. "I…"

"Auron not need to tell Kimahri," said the Ronso. "Kimahri respect Auron, trust Auron."

He didn't need to smile to show that he was grateful. The loudspeaker cracked overhead, and Cid's voice blared through.

"Ey! We're here!"

"Really?" Rikku leaped up, charging to the edge to get a look at Bevelle. The others followed, though a little more slowly. "Bevelle!"

"I'm bringing us down!" Cid announced just before the ship gave a great lurch, nearly knocking the Al Bhed from the edge of the roof.

"Hey, are you sure you should go?" Tidus asked Auron. "I mean, you just blacked out."

He responded with a look that meant something along the lines of "Are you an idiot? Of course I'm going!" and turned to the girl.

"Rikku?"

She glanced back at him for a moment before she realized what he wanted, pulling off his sunglasses and handing them back over. He pushed them onto his face and braced himself as the ship began a controlled freefall.

* * *

"Infidel!" 

"Man, don't these guys ever give up?" Wakka moaned.

"You'll regret showing your face here! We'll strike you down in the name of Yevon!" cried a warrior monk.

"Blah, blah, blah," Tidus mocked. "Yeah, so? Guys?"

"If they want a fight, let's give 'em one!" said Rikku.

"Prepare to charge!"

Half of them had already slid into a fighting stance when a door on the far end of the floor burst open to reveal Shelinda, running full speed toward them.

"Stop!" she cried, coming to a halt behind the warrior monks. They did not turn around but they still acknowledged her.

"Captain?"

"Lady Yuna is not to be harmed!" said Shelinda. "She's no traitor! That is an evil rumor spread by the Al Bhed!"

_What?!_

"What?!" shouted Rikku in disbelief.

"Maester Mika himself told me," Shelinda said as if that would automatically validate the information.

"Then...what are we to do?" one of the monks asked, demonstrating their empty head.

"Stand down!" Rikku ordered in what Auron suddenly thought as an imitation of him.

The monks looked at each other in doubt until Shelinda cut in. "As she says!"

Hesitating, the monks backed off and retreated to the inside of the temple once more. Shelinda sighed and turned to the guardians.

"What was that about evil Al Bhed?" Rikku asked through her teeth.

"I...truly, I do not understand it myself. All Yevon seems to be in a state of confusion. Why, yesterday they called me out of the blue and made me captain of the guard!"

Auron grunted. "Short on believers?"

"Yes, the chaos in the temples is worse than I'd imagined. It's horrible! And all the priests do is blame each other—I worry what will become of Yevon." She raised her hands and began an imitation of someone's 'wise' words. "'But no! I must be the rock that stands against the swirling tides, right?' Lady Yuna, I must tell you, your courage has been a great inspiration to me."

Before Yuna could give her thanks, Tidus rudely interrupted.

"Yeah, that's great, but we came here to see Maester Mika," he informed her. "Is he here?"

"Yes, I shall arrange an audience. Please wait in the courtroom."

She rushed through the doors once more, leaving the guardians well behind.

"Hey, hey wait!" Rikku called. "What was all that about the Al Bhed lying and stuff?"

"Simple," Auron said, seizing the chance to answer. "Yuna has become Mika's only hope."

"Oh…okay."

"Just what does he think he can get away with?" Lulu fumed.

"Time to teach him some manners!" Tidus said.

_Learn some first,_ Auron couldn't help but think.

"Yes," Yuna agreed, a dangerous look in her eye. "Let's."

* * *

As soon as Mika noticed them walking in, he turned to face them with a sense of urgency. 

"Why are you here?" he asked. "You must go and defeat Sin, quickly! You have obtained the Final Aeon from Yunalesca, have you not?"

"Well, we did meet her," Tidus began, ready to dodge the truth. However, Yuna was not.

"We fought and defeated her."

"_What_?" The maester's voice cracked with age and fear.

"Summoners and guardians will be sacrificed for the Final Summoning no more!" Auron announced, filling that fact with pride.

"You have profaned and subverted a thousand-year-old tradition? Fools!" His strength seemed to leave him as he spoke. "Infants! Do you realize what you've done? You've taken away the only means of calming Sin!"

"Hey, maybe that's not the only way! We think we've got another." Tidus placed a hand on Yuna's shoulder, indicating the "we." Looking through his Unsent sight, Auron saw the old man's aura begin to rise in a self-sending.

"Why...preposterous! There is no other way!"

"The grand maester, running away?" Auron questioned in a ridiculing tone. The man's strength seemed to leave him completely.

"Spira has lost its only hope…destruction is inevitable. Yu Yevon's spiral of death will consume us all. I have no desire to watch Spira die."

"It won't die!" Yuna protested.

"Who is this Yu Yevon guy?" Tidus asked. Lulu nodded.

"Lady Yunalesca also mentioned him."

Mika began to fade as pyreflies appeared from his body, taking little pieces of his soul with them. Rikku's eyes narrowed.

"Wait, gramps! Who's Yu Yevon?!"

"He who crafts the souls of the dead into unholy armor, an armor called Sin," Mika explained. "Clad in it, Yu Yevon is invincible. And the only thing that could have pierced that armor, you have destroyed! Nothing can stop it now!"

He finally faded away, the pyreflies that were carrying him fading away as well.

"Disappear on us, will ya?" said Wakka. "Rotten son of a—"

Shelinda appeared from one of the doorways to the side, cutting off whatever string of curses that Wakka had been about to concoct.

"Where…where is the grand maester?" she asked innocently. Yuna froze, wondering what to tell her.

"He…umm…"

"He's not here yet," Auron replied, faking impatience. "How long must we wait?"

"That's odd... I'll go look for His Grace." Shelinda ducked back through the door, leaving behind a deafening silence.

"Smart cookie," Rikku said to him. Auron faintly heard Tidus mumbling something behind him, sounding as if he were talking to someone. He turned to see the fayth of Bahamut talking to the couple. Yuna nodded and Bahamut disappeared.

"Who you talking to?" Wakka asked.

"Oh, uh, no one."

Yuna stepped over to Auron, lowering her voice.

"I must go see the fayth," she said.

"I see." He paused. "I will accompany you."

Yuna nodded in acceptance just before Rikku leaped over.

"Oooh! Can I come too?" she asked the warrior.

"That is not my decision." _Yes._

"It wouldn't hurt," Yuna replied.

"Yay!"

* * *

The Hum of the Fayth was still making its attempt to soothe the visitors in the background, the crystal-encased statue of the mighty Bahamut pulsing smoothly with the child's humming. The fayth appeared hovering above the statue, and the four entered the chamber silently despite the fact that there were no other prayers being made outside. Auron took a place leaning against the wall and Rikku did the same, though a lot less stoically. 

"Hello." The child's voice was soft and carried the wisdom of an adult.

"So, what's up?" Tidus asked.

"Have you found a way to truly defeat Sin?"

"Well…I think so."

"Well?"

"We think the Hymn of the Fayth might slow Sin down."

"Hmm…perhaps."

"You mean it won't work?" Yuna asked.

"A very long time has passed since your father became Sin," the fayth explained. "He may not be able to hear the hymn anymore."

"I know it's a long shot," said Tidus, "But we gotta try anyway if there's a chance."

"Yes, you must." The fayth suddenly gave a warm, heartfelt smile. "I'm glad you're doing this. You have a good spirit, truly."

"I'm not just a dream, right?"

"A dream?" Yuna asked softly. Tidus scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Uh…It's a long story."

Rikku leaned forward to look up at Auron, hoping to get an explanation from the man. He merely held up a hand that she took to mean "Quiet. I'll tell you later."

"Promise?" she whispered. He nodded, and she fell silent.

"If it works, what'll you do then? You'll need more than the hymn," the fayth pointed out.

"We fight Yu Yevon!" Tidus replied, the fearlessness in his voice evident.

"Yes... If you defeat Yu Yevon, it will end. Tell me, what do you know about Yu Yevon?"

"He's what makes Sin come back!"

"And Sin is his armor," Yuna said. "It protects him."

"Yu Yevon was once a summoner, long ago. He was peerless. Yet now he lives for one purpose: only to summon. He is neither good, nor evil—he is awake, yet he dreams. But...maybe not forever."

"Yeah, that's right," Tidus agreed. "We're ending it."

"Yes. Even if you defeat Sin with the Final Summoning, Yu Yevon will live. Yu Yevon will join with the Final Aeon, he will transform it into a new Sin. Yu Yevon merges with the aeon...then, protected by this new Sin he has created, he continues the summoning."

"For eternity, huh?"

"But you know, there is no such thing as eternity if you end it, is there?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yu Yevon lives inside Sin," the boy repeated. "Yuna, listen. When you fight Yu Yevon, we will help you. Promise me you'll summon us. I'm afraid your swords and magic won't be enough. Please, call us. Promise?"

"Yes." The summoner bowed in a silent vow.

"But, you know...when it is all over...we will wake, and our dream will end. Our dream will vanish."

"Yeah. You've been dreaming a long time, haven't you?" There was almost a tinge of pity in the blonde's voice, but pity for what? Himself, or the fayth?

"I'm sorry," said the boy. Tidus smiled.

"I'm grateful."

The fayth began to fade away, but Auron pushed himself from the wall.

"Wait."

Bahamut regained what little form he had already possessed. "Yes?"

"On the subject of the dream—" he avoided casting a glance at Tidus, "—I have a question."

The fayth frowned and floated to land gracefully on the floor in front of the man. "Go ahead. They can't hear you."

Rikku watched as Auron ducked his head inside his cowl to conceal his mouth movements as he spoke, but no sound came. When he was done, Bahamut's frown grew.

"I knew you were going to ask such a thing. Yes, it is possible. But why?"

"To keep a dream alive," Auron replied with all simplicity. He turned away and strode from the chamber with Rikku trailing close behind. The three watched them leave before the fayth faded away, leaving only Tidus and Yuna.

"What was that all about?" Rikku asked, having to speed up to a trot to keep up with the man's long stride.

"Later."

"But—"

"_Later_."

She stopped and hunched her shoulders at the coldness of his tone, giving him a hurt look. He stopped as well, turning to look at her.

"I promised, did I not?" His tone was considerably softer, softer even than his normal voice. He walked, and she followed.

* * *

"Where's Yuna?" Wakka asked upon their entry. Auron nodded his head in the direction of the Chamber of the Fayth and the blitzer fell silent. 

They didn't have to wait long for Tidus and Yuna to come strolling from the path to the chamber, both with troubled looks on their faces. Auron's breath caught; had he told her that he was a dream of the fayth? He would talk with the boy before the day was over.

Sunlight shone through the arches over the highbridge, spraying patterns of light across the floor. Auron savored the heat of Bevelle, letting go of the now second-nature concentration he had to put into producing his own warmth. His skin instantly turned to ice, but the sun would fix that.

Shelinda hurried over to them, looking as rushed as ever. "I'm afraid the grand maester is nowhere to be found!" she informed them with dismay. Tidus waved it off.

"S'okay, we were just leaving."

"Oh…I see."

"Hey! Maybe you could help us with the Hymn!" Rikku suggested.

"Oh, good idea!" Tidus said, suddenly remembering the plan, it seemed.

"It's like, we need you to tell as many people as you can."

"What should I tell them?" asked Shelinda.

"A ship in the sky will sing the Hymn of the Fayth. When they hear it, we need everyone to sing along!"

"Everyone in Spira!" Wakka said, being specific.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"You don't have to!" Rikku said. _Ahh, the code of the military_. "Just tell everyone!"

"A ship in the sky will sing the Hymn of the Fayth?" the priestess repeated. "So when they hear it, everyone should sing along, correct?"

"If they do, we might be able to defeat Sin!" said Tidus.

Shelinda's eyes widened. "Truly?" Disbelief filled that word.

"Yes!" Yuna sounded happier than she had ever been before, and that seemed to settle the other woman's doubts. She placed a hand over her heart.

"That's wonderful! You can count on me!" she promised. "I shall tell all of Spira!"

* * *

The airship's control room still remained the ideal place for discussion, as the party had settled themselves in that room to discuss their battle plan. Sin was mighty, and they couldn't attack it head on. Weaken it, perhaps? Yes, that would be essential. But how to do so without using all of their energy? That stayed in the air as an unanswered question throughout the whole time; many hours had gone by before Yuna pointed out something very important. 

"But wait, everyone," she interrupted, "We shouldn't attack right away."

"Yuna is right," Lulu said, bringing the floor to her. "If we attack too soon, then all our efforts will have been in vain."

"'Rush this and we'll lose everything,'" Rikku quoted.

"We need time," Lulu continued. "Two weeks?"

"That's too long." Tidus crossed his arms. "My old man won't be able to keep enough control for that long. I say we go for it in three days."

"We need more time than that!" Rikku countered. "One week!"

They all fell silent, counting the preparations that had to be made before they made their move.

"One week," Yuna repeated. "That's good." Auron suddenly jerked himself from his inattentive state.

"I agree," said Lulu.

"So do I, ya?" Wakka punched the air.

"Fine with me," Tidus said.

"Are you sure?" Auron asked. Six pairs of eyes locked on him. "Not any sooner? Say…six days?"

"Why?" Tidus raised an eyebrow. Yuna stepped forward.

"Why six?"

_Anything less than seven_, Auron thought. "Nevermind. It was a selfish request; forget it."

"It's decided, then." Lulu put a hand on her hip, sighing. "We attack in one week, not counting today."

* * *

Tidus began to head out, but Auron said something to him that stopped him. He pushed himself from where he had leaned against the wall, walking off with the blonde. The door shot open and the two strode through. Rikku looked around and, deciding that everyone was too busy to notice her, sneaked under the door just before it hissed closed. 

The two continued to stroll through the halls while giving each other the silent treatment, which made it harder for the thief to follow them without being noticed. She had passed through a few rooms without revealing herself when an Al Bhed child ran up to her, grinning and ready to blow her cover. She clapped a hand over the boy's mouth, smiling and placing a finger over her lips to indicate silence. The boy nodded, and she sneaked off without a word or a blown cover.

It was the next room in which they began to speak, for the hall was devoid of anyone but themselves—or so they thought. Rikku had to slow down as they did.

"Did you tell her?" Auron asked. Tidus shook his head and the warrior cast his gaze to the cold, metal floor.

"But—"

"But I have to eventually. I know," said Tidus.

_I don't get it,_ Rikku thought. _Tell who what?_

"But the truth is that I don't really _have_ to, you know."

"Then she will find out eventually," countered Auron. "Lady Yuna is not dull. She will realize what you are when you begin to fade away after—if—we defeat Sin forever."

Tidus was silent.

_Tidus is going to fade away?_

"She loves you."

"I know."

"Are you going to try to save yourself? Keep yourself in existence?"

"…No," Tidus replied. "I can't. There just isn't a way to do it."

"You sound like our enemies."

"What?" Tidus stopped and so did Auron, and Rikku had to back away to safety.

Auron chuckled. "Each one of our enemies had told us 'there is no other way,' or 'there's no way you can stop this from happening,'" he said. "Before, you were so unwilling to accept what they thought: that there is no way to overcome the obstacle that is Sin anymore with what we've done. You're acting just like them now; you believe that your fate is sealed because of events that were out of your control."

Tidus hung his head in embarrassment. "Well, yeah…but…"

"But what?"

He paused before speaking. "How do you make a dream a reality, huh? It's _impossible_!"

_A dream?_ Rikku thought. Auron smiled.

"Apparently destroying Sin without the Final Aeon is, too."

Tidus's ears reddened and Auron put a hand on his shoulder.

"I must admit…in the beginning, I was worried. But you've done well." He gave a pause before adding, "I'm proud of you."

Tidus looked up in surprise. "Promise me that you'll at least _try_ to find a way to stay with the world," Auron said.

Tidus nodded. "Fine. But what about you, huh?"

"What about me?"

"You're an Unsent," Tidus said, pointing out the obvious. "After we've defeated Sin, you'll have gotten rid of your reasons for being dead but still here, and not in the Farplane, right? What are you going to do then? Are you gonna make Yuna send you?"

"Lady Yuna will perform the sending of her own free will," Auron replied. "If she will not send me, then I will send myself."

Rikku's heart plummeted. _Wh-what? Auron's going to leave? No, no!_

"Do you have to go?" Tidus asked. Auron raised an eyebrow. "Everyone would miss you."

"Do _you_ have to fade away?" he retorted. "Everyone would miss you more; I deserve my death, and you are far from deserving your own."

Auron strode away and around the corner, and Tidus turned to head in the opposite direction. Rikku held back a gasp and ducked around the corner into a doorway to wait for him to pass without noticing her. She heard his sneakers hit the metal down the hall as a result of stepping on a grate, and she stepped from her hiding place. She cast one last look down the hall before jogging after the crimson clad warrior.

* * *

Auron was in the room before the lift up to the roof of the ship, gazing out the window. She suddenly stopped at the stairs, still using her thief skills to be silent. What was she going to say? She leaned against the wall and sank to the floor. What, was she going to beg him not to leave like some lovestruck schoolgirl whose boyfriend was moving away? 

"You can come out now, Rikku."

She jumped, not at all expecting him to know where she was. With reluctance she slowly climbed the stairs, turning on her heel to face him at the top. He was still gazing at the passing clouds absently, seeming unaware of her presence.

"It is impolite," he began, his voice lowered, "to eavesdrop on others."

Her face heated with guilt as inexplicable anger rose within her.

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know what Bahamut was talking about when he said 'dream,'" she replied through her teeth. "And pretty much everything after that."

Auron's eye closed as he turned to her, and when it opened she found that she was able to easily read it for the first time. Regret filled his russet stare, and she looked away.

"Why?" she asked. "Why do you have to leave?"

"I would have to leave eventually."

Neither expected it when Rikku launched herself at him with a cry, fists at the ready. She knew that she had almost no chance of damaging him, nor did she want to. He blocked the first blow she threw, directing it to the side and beginning to back up as she followed up again and again and again, and soon he was forced to free his other arm to protect himself from her onslaught.

"_So_?" she came close to shouting. "You don't _have_ to leave, you know!"

"Rikku—"

She assaulted him with more jabs, not even aware of what she was doing anymore. He continued to block.

"Rikku, stop—"

"Nobody _deserves_ death! How can you say that?"

His back hit the wall; enough was enough. He caught her small fist in his hand, holding it tight so she wouldn't jerk it back to punch at him again. She paused before letting out a cry and drawing her other hand back to strike, but Auron caught it in _his_ other hand. She began to try to pull them back, but he raised both hands slightly so it would be impossible for her to struggle efficiently. He hated using his superior strength against her, but the woman was _attacking_ him!

"Stop." It was just one lousy word; yet she obeyed and abandoned her attempts to get away, looking up at him.

"Why would you just leave us?" she asked. "There are people who _care_ for you, here! People who would miss you really really much if you left, you know?"

Her eyes glazed over with tears, but none escaped. "You could live out the rest of what would have been your life! So why would you _leave_? Why would you want to die? _Ever_?"

Auron stared deep into her spiraling eyes, trying to swallow what she had said. Confident that she wouldn't try to get away, he lowered her hands to just below her eye level and brought them together where they uncurled to clasp together underneath his large palms.

"Rikku," he began, "I can't go on in this state. My heart doesn't beat and my soul is in a thousand little pieces that I can manipulate at will. I have to _concentrate_ to give off warmth; every day, every second is a constant and painful reminder that I am dead."

It hurt for her to realize—to know—that he was right. "But don't you have some other reason to stay on Spira? Anything?"

He hadn't had time to really _think_ about it, but…there was.

He lowered his and her hands ever so slightly. "What I want…" He stopped, unwilling to give it words. "What I want would take a life and a lifetime that I do not possess to acquire."

"Fine," said Rikku "But what about the people you'll leave behind? Do you even _care_ about how we feel?"

Those words hurt, but Auron just chuckled, dropping her hands and wrapping his arms around her slim form to pull her into a close embrace.

"I care," he said softly, "more than you will ever know." It was true. _And I only just now realized it._

Rikku's eyes widened before they squeezed shut, and she put her ear to his heart, listening for a small sign that he had been lying about the first fact.

Silence.

And then, just as silently, Rikku began to cry.

* * *

Guu, I hate cutting off on a sad note. 

Did you get the hint? That's right; Celestial Weapons, baby! Prepare yourselves! (insert Mortal Kombat theme here)

I leave soon for my second vacation, so I can't continue for about a week. What's terrible is that school starts soon! My goal is to finish this story _before_ that happens and work on the sequel over the weekends when school starts. Gah…I'm nervous.

-Ari Elisianete


	11. Dreaming

For those of you who watch South Park: picture Auron singing the Sexual Harassment Panda Song. Just do it. You'll wet yourself laughing.

Tis chapter ELEVEN! And why is _that_ special? Because it is the first chapter to have both digits as the same number! And it's probably going to be the last one, too…yeah, yeah. I don't think there's going to be a 22. But it might come close.

Oh look, I'm rambling.

* * *

Auron was sure that he had ridiculed himself in every way possible. He had been foolish, he thought. He had been beyond foolish. He had let himself grow close to someone, and now he would pay the price. But why hadn't he seen it before? If he'd noticed what had been happening, he could have prevented it. Somehow.

What angered him—no, what _frightened_ him—was the fact that he was creating another reason to stay on Spira. If he did that, then Yuna wouldn't be able to send him until he had eliminated that reason. The only things he would be able to do would be either one; kill Rikku, or two; send himself. And he could _never_ do the former. He wouldn't be able to move on to the Farplane…and it scared him.

He trudged through the sand, keeping an eye out for any treasure. They were on Bikanel Island, using the rest of the day to search for whatever might help them in their preparations for the upcoming battle. All seven of them had spilt up in different directions after they had each been given a flare gun that would signal the others if the user had found something important, but _only_ if they had found something important. They were not to fire otherwise. Still, Auron expected a signal to shoot up with a bang off to the east in Tidus's direction at any moment, only to tell them that he had found a bundle of normal desert ruins.

He hunched over a little to make his way up a steep dune, scanning the desert before him upon reaching the top. No little rusty treasure chests that he could see. He looked to the north, noticing a little spec of a person on the horizon. They seemed to notice him as well, and raised a hand to wave. Judging by who had gone where, the person must have been Yuna, who had decided to go north. Auron waved a few times before stepping off of the dune and beginning to slide down the powdery sand on his feet, jumping off at the bottom so he wouldn't catch on the harder sand at the foot of the hill and fall flat on his face. Now _that_ was something he could picture Tidus doing.

He had let go of warmth a long time ago and allowed his skin to freeze, so in the desert heat he was completely comfortable. He continued to walk, stopping when he stumbled over a very hard object. Squatting to get a better look, he pulled the aged chest from the sand and unclasped the lock, attempting to open it but eventually resorting to kicking the top to weaken the rusty seal. The top flipped open, revealing a small but thick token-like object that seemed as though age hadn't ever touched it. Auron reached in and grabbed it, attempting to bend it to test its fragility. Deciding that it could take a beating and was therefore worth something, he rubbed off a spot of sand and examined it closer; it was a small, glazed over stone that looked like it resembled a token of the moon, only something was different…the colors? Yes, the colors. A stripe resembling a white ribbon ran around the rim of the coin, holding red, flowing script that read "_Mercury_."

He flipped it over to find a recess in the back, sinking halfway through the coin and running straight across, maybe an inch in width compared to the three or four inch coin. It looked like something was missing from that recess.…

He tucked it into his belt pouch along with his sharpening stone, running his hand over the flare gun for a moment before deciding that it was not important. Discarding the useless chest, he trudged on.

* * *

Bomb cores and bomb fragments; this was good, very good. Rikku sat in the sand, scanning over each of her findings which, to her pride, had been very many. It was a good thing that she had insisted on bringing a pouch to carry it all in since she knew from the start that she would find more than any of the others combined, since all they did was look above the surface. You had to kick up some sand if you wanted to _find_ anything.

She lifted each object to scan in the sun, seizing the distraction it gave her. Her mind was still wrapped around her painfully recent conversation with Auron; she wasn't sure what to feel anymore. He'd held her until she had stopped crying, and then he explained everything just as he'd promised. Tidus was a dream of the fayth, he told her. And when Sin was defeated forever, he would fade away because the fayth would wake up and quit dreaming. Hence "Our dream will end, our dream will vanish." She could still feel his hand stroking her back in an attempt to comfort—no, no!

"_I've been trying to think of a way to keep him alive," Auron said. Rikku wiped the remnants of tears from her cheeks._

"_Found anything?"_

_For some reason he paused—no, hesitated. "No."_

_She sniffed. "For the first time, I know that you're lying."_

_He looked away, and she knew she was right. "Tell me."_

_He was probably telling himself that he couldn't. "I fear for him, and for Lady Yuna." Yeah, that was what he was telling himself. "I fear failure."_

_Rikku blinked. "Huh?" But she knew what he meant. Whatever way he'd found, he wasn't sure if it would succeed._

"_I need a second option," he said. "Will you help me think of a way to save him?"_

_She nodded, and he began to leave. But just as he began to descend the stairs, he stopped._

"_Just one more thing," he said. She looked up. "Don't…don't tell Yuna."_

"_Huh? Why not?"_

"_If she is told at all, it must come from Tidus himself," he explained. "We can't comfort her like he can. And besides, she's lived her whole life thinking that she was going to die. How do you think she would feel if she knew that she was living, but the one she loved was dying?"_

_Rikku said nothing._

Sweat slicked her hand and caused the large bomb fragment she held to slip from her hold and fall to the sand. A lump formed in her throat, but she forced it away as quickly as she could and gathered her findings into the pouch, slinging it over her back after she was done. Just as she was about to head off, a small squeak sounded behind her. She turned to find a little green cactus—no, it was a cute little cactuar! Rikku dropped her sack, squatting to look at the creature.

"Hey, little guy!" she said, drawing back when it suddenly squeaked in anger. It turned its back to her then faced her again, squeaking once more at the fact that she hadn't moved an inch. She blinked as it cast a weak fire spell in the air, then an equally weak cure spell.

"Red and green…?" Rikku tipped her head to the side before she realized what the cactuar was trying to get across. "Oh! Red Light Green Light! Sure, I'll play."

She stood, ready to run. "Ready!"

The cactuar squeaked a countdown from 3, then turned around again. Rikku burst forward, halting easily when it turned again. It turned and she moved, turned and she stopped, and suddenly she was close enough to make a final leap. Her foot landed on the poor thing, but it burst into smoke. Rikku blinked in surprise, looking around for it before she felt something very hard under her foot. She stepped back to find a green, glowing sphere where the cactuar had been, reflecting the sun off of its shiny sides.

She stooped down to pick it up, lifting it to the sun. It pulsed in her hand, slightly cold to the touch; its contents shined in waves like light through water.

"Pretty!" she said, scanning the horizon for no apparent reason. _I consider this important_.

* * *

Auron was pilfering the contents of another chest when he heard a deafening bang sound to the southeast; it took him a moment to realize that a flare had been used. Southeast…who had gone southeast?—wait, Rikku.

_I wonder what she's found,_ he thought. He took off in the direction of the fading signal.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, he was the first to arrive. Sliding down another dune and taking the same precautions to land smoothly, he called to her as he landed, and she waved to him and tossed him a small, green sphere. Snatching it from the air, he gave her a scolding look.

"Be careful," he said. "What if it's fragile?"

"What could it possibly break on out here?" Rikku asked, putting her hands on her hips. Auron opened his mouth to retort, but found no reply. Instead he lifted the sphere to the sun to examine it more thoroughly. It was amazing how he could go through something one minute and act as if it had never happened the next. Sometimes she was pretty sure that if the entire world exploded, he would be completely fine the next day.

"Fehhan Cbrana," Auron said, "Winner Sphere."

"Huh? Lemme see!"

She reached for the sphere but Auron held it out of her reach. "There's more. It says 'Kutryht.' That is…Godhand."

She stopped trying to seize the sphere. "Since when do you know Al Bhed?"

He was saved the effort of replying when Tidus called out to them from the top of a dune and began to slide down. He let out a whoop of joy before tripping at the bottom and doing a painful-looking faceplant. While he moaned into the sand Auron and Rikku were laughing, one harder than the other; Rikku fell to her knees as she lost the strength to stand.

"Graceful," said Auron. Tidus began to spit out sand and glare.

"Not funny, old man!" he cried.

"Yes it is," Auron replied. "Yes it is."

Just then Yuna emerged from where Tidus had appeared, and she stepped carefully down the sliding sand.

"Hello," she greeted them as she jumped to safety. "Who fired the flare gun?"

Tidus scrambled to a stand in an attempt to not be seen by her in such an embarrassed state. Auron pointed to Rikku.

"What did you find?" she asked, and Auron passed her the sphere. She attempted to read the Al Bhed, then handed it back. "What does it say?"

"Winner Sphere and Godhand." Rikku folded her arms. "I thought that we were supposed be searching individually."

Tidus's ears reddened in the telltale sign of guilt. "What do you mean?"

"You and Yunie came from the same direction," Rikku said accusingly, "And at nearly the same time."

"Yeah, so? What about you and Auron? He was with you when I got here, and you guys went in complete opposite directions!"

"I moved fast," Auron said. "And you were probably so busy tripping up that it took you twice as long to get here."

Tidus pouted and muttered something along the lines of "I only tripped _three_ times..."

"Oi!" Wakka called from the south, bringing Lulu from the southeast. Kimahri arrived from northeast, jumping straight off of the dune to get to them. Each examined the sphere, wondering what it did since it so obviously didn't play a recording.

"Where did you find this?" asked Lulu. Rikku was too busy staring at the top of the dune to the north to answer. "Rikku?"

She lifted a finger to point at a green spec in the direction she was staring. "Cactuar!!!"

"What?"

"Follow me!" she ordered, taking off at a dead run toward the plush doll-like creature.

"Hey, wait!" The others followed; Auron tucked the sphere away in his belt pouch and took the liberty of grabbing the girl's sack of pillages before heading after them.

The cactuar had gone quite a ways before it finally stopped, and Rikku went as far as she could toward it before it started to back up, setting the distance.

"What are you doing, Rikku?" Yuna asked.

"Ready!" she cried.

The cactuar gave three squeaks before turning its back to them and Rikku leaped forward, stopping when it turned again. As the pattern continued, the party realized that she was playing Red Light Green Light with it. A whole new set of questions entered their minds before she finally reached the creature, bringing her foot down roughly on the top of its head. It burst into a thick puff of smoke which quickly floated away with the breeze, and Rikku stooped down to pick something up. When she'd gotten a hold of it, she whipped around and struck a pose, presenting her prize to the others: a green sphere identical to the one that she had just shown them.

"See?" she said. "You get them from playing with the cactuars!"

The others exchanges glances in disbelief.

"What does it say?" asked Auron.

"Same thing, 'Winner Sphere and Godhand.'"

"There's another one!" Tidus pointed behind her and she immediately charged at it with the others in tow. She beat this one a little less gracefully; at the very end she tripped but managed to touch the cactuar with the tip of her finger. It burst into smoke and left behind yet another sphere which she tossed to Yuna, who had been silently declared the "sphere carrier."

"So all you have to do is touch them?" Auron asked.

"I guess so."

"Then I have an idea."

He raised his hand and a single pyrefly floated from it, beginning to head toward the unmoving cactuar. It passed through the creature, which burst into smoke and left its sphere behind. Rikku gasped.

"That's cheating!" she exclaimed. "Don't do that!"

Auron smiled with amusement, holding his hand up in surrender. "We do it your way, then."

"Yay!" If he was going to act like nothing had happened, then so would she. She retrieved the sphere and charged the next cactuar with relative ease. After quite a few more, Tidus asked if he could try one.

"I don't see why not," Rikku said. Tidus crouched low before giving the signal for the game to start.

"Ready!"

Three squeaks and he was off, but on the second turn he stopped too late and the cactuar noticed the movement. It squealed in triumph for a time then settled down, just sitting there as if in wait.

"Looks like you get another turn!" Yuna said as Tidus jogged back to the starting point. This time he got the sphere perfectly; charging when the time was right and leaping to it at the end.

"That makes nine," Yuna announced. "How many more do you think we have?"

Their eyes locked on a single cactuar standing in front of a stone. It squeaked in challenge, and Rikku slid into stance.

"Ready!"

The cactuar seemed to spin in circles, making it impossible for her to move without being seen. Two turns were lost, and the cactuar grew still.

Auron stepped forward. "I'm not cheating," he said, "I'm being resourceful."

Rikku crossed her arms and watched as Auron raised his hand again, emitting a pyrefly and maneuvering it toward the green plushlike creature. However, it tipped its body to follow the glow before it hissed. Auron froze; that hiss was familiar. The cactuar pointed its crooked arm at it, and suddenly a thin beam of red tinted light shot from it, colliding with the pyrefly and causing it to vanish immediately. Auron bit back a cry of pain.

_**Balefire; the very essence of death. Be careful, little one, or the man in the cactuar suit might hurt someone.**_

"Looks like there's no cheating this time!" Rikku said. He fell to his knees, still resisting the urge to scream. "Hey, you okay?"

His vision blurred as his senses darted to his mind, and suddenly he was kneeling in another world again. Black marble floor and walls dominated his surroundings and Ender appeared next to him, barely visible against the darkness. A transparent wall rose before them, its surface flaunting a multitude of colors. On the opposite side of the wall—no, the barrier was what seemed to be a thousand, white hot…strings. In the center was a ball of blue-tinted light, and from it spawned a hundred different tendrils that were beating softly against the barrier in a request to leave their prison.

"This," said Ender, "is inside you."

Auron rose to a stand, gazing at whatever it was that floated on the other side. Ender walked forward, pressing his hands against the multi-colored wall.

"And this is in the way."

"In the way of what?" Auron asked. Ender chuckled.

"Power."

The barrier shattered as glass would upon impact, and the strings shot forward to wrap around Auron's neck and arms, choking him and preventing him from saving himself simultaneously. He faintly saw a thread come close to Ender, but all he had to do was look at it for it to shrink away.

His eye snapped open and his arm swung in and arc, producing the same power that he had used against Yunalesca. The cactuar barely had time to squeak once before the arc of flashfire crashed into it with a deafening roar of an aftereffect, blowing sand in all directions. When the grain in the air had cleared, the guardians stared at him in shock.

"The sphere," Auron said simply. Rikku stepped forward to claim it, never taking her narrowed, angry eyes off of him. She tossed the winner sphere to Yuna and it danced away from her in the air before she finally got a good grip.

"What was that?" Tidus asked.

"That's the second time you've blacked out or nearly blacked out," Rikku said, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. "And you said you were tired!"

"I'm fine."

"Oh, really? That's also the second time you've used that…light thing," she pointed out.

"I would consider that a good thing," Auron countered. "I'm alright."

The others watched the exchange with their eyebrows reaching their hairlines.

"We're done here anyway."

"No, we're not," Tidus said. He and Yuna were kneeling by the stone that they had already begun to neglect. It was then that they noticed what was past the stone; a great recess in the desert in which a sandstorm raged. The sand was brown with a rare health, and cactuses were scattered about. They returned their attention to the stone, which had ten sphere-shaped slots. One by one, he and Yuna placed the spheres into the stone, and about halfway through the task they noticed that the sandstorm was weakening. Rikku pointed toward the middle of the valley.

"Hey! There's a huge chest over there!" The others saw it through the swirling sand. Placing the rest of the spheres where they belonged, the two stood and watched at the storm faded away completely, the sand swirling to the ground in defeat.

"That was…odd," Lulu said.

"Who cares? We got treasure!" Rikku cried, leaping down the dune. Auron put a hand to his forehead. The girl was so easily distracted…but such a thing was fine if it continued to work to his advantage. By the time the others had reached her she was already holding her prize to the sky in a standard examination. It was a rectangle piece of glazed over stone that had two peculiar designs rounding out to the side.

"All it says is 'Symbol of.'" She said, tossing it behind her. "Junk."

Auron snatched it from the air before it fell to the sand. "Don't be so narrow-minded," he said. "Things are often more than they appear." He produced the coin and turned it over to take a look at the recess. Upon fitting the pieces together, the line that separated them disappeared, sealing the two. Rikku blinked.

"Well, how'd you do that?" she asked. Auron said nothing and dropped the piece into her waiting hands.

"Huh? You're just going to give it to me?"

"It's valuable to be sure, but I have no use for it."

"Umm…okay then." She was still trying to grasp the fact that Auron was giving her a gift. She looked down at it curiously.

"Symbol of Mercury," she read. "Wonder what that means."

Bringing out her communicator with a flourish, Rikku flipped a switch and the machina crackled to life.

"Yeah?" Cid's voice blared.

"Beam us up, pops!" she said.

"…Say what, now?"

The Al Bhed rolled her eyes. "Just pick us up."

"Will do!"

* * *

He saw a house. A normal, average house, though something seemed strange about it—the design, maybe? He was in what must have been the living room. A man strode through the door who he guessed was Ender by the way he was dressed, wearing the familiar heavy black robes that fell around him in folds. A woman was with him, her arm looped around his. She had a small form and bright blonde hair hanging down to her waist that brought out her spiraling emerald Al Bhed eyes.

Ender turned and smiled to her before leaning down to place a soft kiss on her lips, and the woman returned the gesture for the brief moment that the pleasure was given.

The room whirled and suddenly he was standing on the top of a high hill next to Ender, staring down at a bustling city. Children were running through the streets, their laughter unheard by him due to distance while their parents raised a finger to advise safe play. Further into the city was what seemed like a bazaar; merchants had set up their stalls all around the square, some in the midst of persuading a customer to buy their wares. Ender scanned over it all with a neutral, passive expression before he raised his hands to the sky. And suddenly the children, the parents, the buildings and merchants and stalls all burst into flames as though a giant flare spell had consumed the city.

And Ender smiled.

Auron awoke with a gasp and his hand shot out to seize an unknown target. He found one, but suddenly a high voice squeaked in pain.

"Auron," they said, straining for breath, "You're hurting me—!"

He suddenly realized that he had grabbed a throat. "Rikku!" He released his grip. "Rikku, I'm sorry—did I hurt you?" _What a stupid question._

The Al Bhed answered through coughs. "No, you just crushed my air tube, that's all."

"Sorry, I—" He abruptly realized that he was holding her cheek and snatched his hand away. "Where are we?"

"Luca," she replied. "You don't remember? We left Bikanel and Tidus begged everyone to let him play blitzball for the rest of the day and Wakka joined in, so we had to let them. The others are at the stadium now, watching them."

Oh, that's right. And after they had arrived he vaguely remembered Rikku dragging him to one of the rooms that were usually reserved for blitzball players and insisting that he rest. Her antics were giving him a headache, so he had obliged. The last thing he remembered was seeing was the girl taking a seat on the couch on the other side of the room before he fell asleep and had the nightmare that just wouldn't seem to slip from his mind the way that dreams were supposed to. He sat up, discovering that he still had on everything but his boots and jacket and cowl, which sat and hung by the foot of the bed, respectively. His sunglasses were resting on the nearby table.

"Why aren't you with them?" he asked.

"Uhh…I never really liked blitzball." She stepped back and plopped down onto the couch. "Now would you mind explaining why you tried to kill me just now?"

Auron swung his legs out of bed and leaned forward, running a hand through his hair. "Had a nightmare."

He thought he heard her mutter "You have nightmares?"

"Oh," she said. "That sucks. Oh, and who's 'Ilyena?'"

He froze. He had been calling out in his sleep, and to a person he didn't even know?

"Were you watching me the whole time I slept?" he asked. She laughed nervously.

"Umm…maybe?"

He had to smile at that. He stood up and grabbed his jacket, slipping it on along with his collar. "We might as well go meet the others."

Rikku watched as he tugged on his boots, then did him the service of retrieving his sunglasses and tossing them over. He caught them easily, slipping them onto his face. Whatever had just happened to him, he was trying to show that he was over it now. And he was doing a good job of it, too.

* * *

The roar of the cheering fans grew louder as they traversed the steps to the stadium, eventually emerging into a whole other world, it seemed. The giant sphere of water loomed before them and the players zoomed about the interior. Auron couldn't tell who had the ball, but he picked out Tidus immediately. Knowing the boy's game patterns, it wasn't hard to predict where he was. Rikku let out a cry of delight and pointed to the scoreboard. "Look!"

7 to 5, in favor of the Aurochs. They were going against the Luca Goers yet again, but their team seemed to be playing with a new sort of spirit. They watched as Tidus hurled the ball and scored, causing the Goer fans to moan in disapproval. The Aurochs seemed to have many more fans now that they had been winning more and more frequently.

Auron thought he heard someone call his name above the crowd and turned in that direction to see Yuna waving her arms in an attempt to grab his attention. The group was sitting by her; he began to make his way toward them with Rikku following close behind.

After they were seated, Rikku leaned over. "I think that Tidus wants to get as much blitzball in as he can before he—"

Auron shot her a dangerous look. "Yuna is _right there_," he said, his voice lowered so much that it was barely audible over the crowd's cheers and groans. She fell silent.

"Sorry," she said.

"Tell that to Yuna." He turned to the summoner. "How far along is the game?"

The buzzer sounded, and the commentator cut in. "Oooh! Looks like the Besaid Aurochs win again!" he announced. Tidus did a victory pose. "They really have improved!"

"Over," Yuna said.

_And I had expected a long wait,_ Auron thought, looking up to the V.I.P. box. And there stood Ender, surveying the scene with the same passive look that he had given the city in his dream. He vanished as suddenly as he'd appeared, leaving Auron to wonder if he had been there at all. He dismissed it; no answers for no questions asked. And yet his eye lingered on the spot where he had stood, almost as if he couldn't look away—it was only when he began to step down the stairs that he paid attention to what he was doing.

* * *

Tidus and Wakka, along with the rest of the team, were in the locker room, letting out whoops of joy at their winning streak. Yuna smiled at Tidus, muttering congratulations. All Lulu had to do was smile at Wakka to say "good job."

"That makes ten in a row, ya?" Wakka cheered, opening his locker. "We're gettin _good_!"

"Cap'n!" The blitzers cried.

"Nuh-uh. Tidus is the captain now, remember?"

"Right!" They all went into grumbling about how they kept forgetting. Wakka pulled something from the inside of his locker, holding it close to his face to get a good look at it.

"Hey, what's this?" he asked. The others gathered around for a look. "Looks like the thing that Auron gave Rikku, ya? Only without the other piece, and the colors are different." He then noticed the script on the artificial ribbon. "It says 'Jupiter.'"

Tidus took it from the redhead's hands to get a look for himself. "Hey, yeah! It does look like the other one."

"But where's the other piece?"

He tossed it back. "Ask someone who knows."

"Yeah, right."

Auron felt a hand on his shoulder, and as he tried to catch a glimpse of the owner they vanished and the hair on the back of his neck rose. He had no doubts as to who it had been.

"We're leaving," he announced.

"Huh? But we just finished a game!" Tidus complained.

"Then _I'm_ leaving." He had to get away from the others to finally confront Ender face-to-face—as he sensed the man's presence in the back of his mind, he also sensed that he wanted to talk. And really, Auron would do anything to get him to leave him alone.

He left the locker rooms briskly only to realize that Rikku was tagging along on his left. Ender appeared to his other side, seeming to glide across the floor with sinister grace. Rikku didn't notice him.

"That…_thing_ is too clingy," said Ender. "Get rid of her."

"I'm going to rest a little more before we leave," Auron said to her, hiding the anger he felt toward the _thing_ to his right. Ender smiled as if sensing the distaste directed at him. When she continued to walk with him, Auron chuckled. "Go to the others. The party will be much livelier with your company."

Rikku gave a defeated look. "I'm waking you up when we're leaving," she said before jogging back in the direction of the others. As she rounded the corner and they entered Auron's temporary room, the man glided forward to scan his surroundings.

"Why do you keep bothering me like this?" Auron asked.

"_Bothering_?" Ender asked, still not taking the effort to look at the man he was speaking to. "Is that all? Bothering…you know, I can make it much, _much_ worse."

He should have felt fear. Should have, but did not. For a moment it rose within him before it was pushed back down by someone other than himself; it was then that he realized what was happening.

"You're toying with my emotions," Auron said calmly, contrary to what he should have been feeling.

"But of course," said Ender. "I can't have you going mad with fear, now can I? I've lost too many good pawns that way. Oh, yes; sometimes I get careless and forget to calm the person I'm talking to, and when I appear they just collapse. Their mental capabilities…vanish, you see. They get stuck in an asylum if they don't die on the spot..." A chuckle. "And sometimes I do it for fun. Hm…delightful."

Auron drew back. What _was_ this guy? He suddenly felt very sorry for letting Ender catch him alone and began to miss Rikku for a multitude of reasons. The corners of Ender's lips sank in a frown.

"This…_Rikku_ girl," he began, turning to look back at him. "The one you're so attached to—"

"Who is Ilyena?" Auron interrupted. Ender was silent, and his jaw dropped ever so slightly. "Was it that girl—the Al Bhed in my dream?"

Ender's teeth clenched. "You were in love with her," Auron continued. "But something happened."

He doubled over and his hands raised to clutch his head in the same sort of mental struggle he had had in front of Yunalesca, his hands already beginning to resemble claws. When he bared his teeth at the warrior in anger, they weren't humanlike either. As he spoke his usually smooth voice was distorted, sounding as if it was coming from something that was never meant to speak at all.

"Quit while you're ahead, little one," was all he said before he vanished. Auron's sight vanished with him, and he collapsed to lie unconscious on the carpeted floor.

* * *

Eye-lee-yen-ah. That's how you pronounce Ilyena. Hooray for confusion clearing!

Yay! I managed to get out another chapter before I become dead to the internet for a week. Send me reviews as always!

(Wow. That was _the_ shortest closing author's note I've ever had. Maybe because it's one in the morning and I had to retry typing this sentence five times before I finally got it right…I hope.) Oh, and tell me if you hate Ender.

-Ari Elisianete


	12. The Prejudice and the Predator

Whew! It's finally here, sorry for the wait. I have a few things to say.

One: Screw the Cloudy Mirror. I am well aware that you need it to gain the CUWs, but that never really made any sense to me. Why would you need a mirror to put a sword in the ground or receive a blitzball from a person? This object is hereby declared nonexistent. Also, the pod…thing that activates the weapons? Yeah, that's gone too. It never made sense to me why that was there either; I mean, plants (it always looked like a plant to me) just don't make someone one of the most powerful people on the planet…I hope.

Two: Yes, I changed the way Yuna gets the Blossom crown. It was for the sake of linear purposes, yes? You'll see what I mean soon.

Three: If Rikku has already been to Besaid, I apologize; I've never heard of her going there before she joins the crew.

Sexual Harassment Panda, out. For now.

* * *

"Don't kill me…don't kill me…"

Auron faded back into the world to find that he had somehow ended up on the bed, and that a small, familiar finger was poking his shoulder in an attempt to wake him. He gave a start and so did Rikku, who jumped back a few feet and appeared prepared to flee. He sobered as soon as his eye opened, a good habit born of having to wake up while under attack. The first thing that came to his mind was the fact that he _lying_ on the bed at all; had Ender done him the small service of putting him there before disappearing? Yes, he probably had. If his friends, especially Rikku, had found him unconscious on the floor with no immediate explanation but the truth, then Ender's "pawn" might give him away. He couldn't have that.

He shivered at the sudden realization that he was thinking like the man. Or, at least what he thought that he might think like. Augh…headaches…

The Al Bhed straightened immediately. "Sorry about that," she said, "But you have killer rude-awakening instincts—I didn't want to be killed!"

In one fluid motion he was standing and giving her his now trademarked penetrating stare, which seemed to have the "never meet Auron's eye" effect, simultaneously avoiding a scowl as he tried to push away said headache. He ran a hand through his hair.

"You know I'm sorry for that," he sighed. "It wasn't intentional at all."

She smiled and punched his shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'm kidding." _Well…not really._ She grabbed his hand and he allowed himself to be dragged out of the room and into the hall.

"I assume we're leaving?" It was more a statement than a question.

"Yup. But don't get too annoyed with Wakka." Her eyes narrowed. "He's got a new toy."

"What?"

* * *

Auron was twitching. He _must_ have been twitching. If he heard that _damn_ Besaid accent say "hey, look at my new blitzball!" one more time, he was going to extract someone's soul and stab it repeatedly.

"Hey, look at my new blitzball!" Wakka cried, spinning it expertly on the tip of his finger. "It's called the—"

"World Champion, and the bartender down at the café let me have it!" everyone recited monotonously, and Auron began to consider taking up the task of sharpening his sword just to make the hair on the back of the redhead's neck stand. He gave a grunt instead, "We know the story."

Cid strode into the room with an expression that clearly told that he was pleased with himself and he was carrying news. Good news, too; but Wakka beat him to it.

"Hey, look at my new—"

"HE KNOWS!" everyone roared, causing the poor man to cower like a mouse among a party of cats. Auron smiled in satisfaction as Cid recovered from his fifty-foot jump.

"Oi!" He grabbed everyone's attention effectively. "I just entered in all the locations on Spira that I could think of off of the top of my head. Anywhere you wanna go, just name it!"

"Ohh, let me mess with it!" Rikku said, leaping forward and bounding out of the room. The others followed, leaving behind a still cowering but dismayed Wakka.

* * *

Rikku was already examining the semi-holographic orb in the middle of the control room at the front of the ship when they reached her. She reached out and touched a glowing button in the center and a keyboard appeared by her arm with a beep; startled, she jerked her arm through it and subsequently typed a few random letters and the "enter" key. There was a buzz as the machina notified her that "asdhf" was not a location on Spira. Would she like to name an unnamed location?

"Wait…so it does even unknown places?" Rikku asked. Cid nodded, and she might as well of had a light bulb appear over her head. She cleared her mess of letters and punched in a new set before pressing the enter key. A beep sounded and a map of Spira appeared as a separate hologram, a bright red dot marking the location that she had specified and a flag with the word she had written.

"'Godhand?'" Yuna read. "If that's a place, then I've never heard of it."

"But it's in Mushroom Rock Road," Wakka pointed out quite loudly, and everyone turned to glare at his presence (or the cursed blitzball, rather) and for a moment Auron fantasized the man giving a _very_ manly scream and shrinking into a dark corner to hide. Such an event would never occur, he knew, but my oh _my_ would it make his day.

"Maybe the name is not of a location, but of something that is there." Everyone turned to look at Auron, seeing the sense in his words; Rikku's eyes widened to the size of Wakka's prized blitzball.

"Treasure!" she cried. "Let's go, let's go!!"

* * *

"…Okay, where is it?"

Cid had pointed out the lower level of Mushroom Rock Road that they had never explored before; they had been too busy with getting to operation Mi'ihen to watch it horrendously fail. But now that they were down there, Auron guessed that the place had once been filled with water. He could tell by the way the walls around them had eroded, he said. But he saw no treasure.

"Hey guys," Tidus called, "There's more over here!"

They all followed him through a narrow passageway that revealed more of the cliff's underside. The rock was even more worn here—below them were hundreds of feet worth of layers of weathered rock. They hugged the walls as they proceeded so as to avoid dropping into what was sure to be a deadly fall.

Another narrow passageway awaited them on the other side leading to an even thinner path, which quickly widened to a platform hanging over the bowl below.

"We shouldn't all stand on this at the same time," Auron said. Who knew how strong its connection to the rest of the cliff was? They all backed into a thicker and sturdier safezone, looking around for the treasure when Rikku called out.

"I think I found something!" she announced, waving for the others to come get a look.

It looked a bit like a piece of machina that had been dug into a conveniently soft patch of sand in the cliffside but was now halfway exposed. She gave a tug at it but the thing wouldn't budge; the soft sand wasn't so soft after all. Auron silently volunteered help when he strode over and gave one hard yank. Loose sand sprayed after the object upon release, but all waved it away. Auron handed it to the Al Bhed for her to examine. It was not a machina at all, she informed them, but a weapon. A claw, she realized.

Dusting it off a little to slip it onto her wielding arm and tightening the straps to secure it, she found it was just her fit.

"I'm still keeping my old one," she said. "Pops gave it to me."

Auron then noticed a recess on the topside of the weapon, which looked an awful lot like a certain artifact that he himself had put together fairly recently.

"Rikku, give me that 'Symbol of Mercury,'" he said. She retrieved it from the pouch at her thigh and passed it to him. One look at both of the items told him what the symbol did—or at least where it was supposed to go. Lifting her hand and the weapon, he pressed the symbol to the recess until it was in all the way. As soon as it was, the fine line that identified the weapon and symbol as two separate things disappeared, sealing them together just as the two pieces of the smaller of the artifacts had done. There was a flash of light and a gust of wind, and when both died down Rikku lifted the weapon to see that it appeared to have just been assembled from shiny, sparkly new parts. The symbol was still there, but it seemed to have been painted expertly onto the flat of the weapon. The white ribbon now read "GODHAND."

"Cooooooooool!" Rikku exclaimed, dancing about the rocks and only stopping to strike a victory pose every once and a while. They all watched her in amusement until she stepped onto the Auron-proclaimed precarious platform, which gave an involuntary crack. She stopped and only had time to squeak once before it actually _did_ crack; it gave a lurch and sent her scrambling for balance. But not for long; the weak rock snapped and began to fall, and Rikku shrieked as she fell with it.

She hadn't fallen for long before she jerked to a midair stop and her front crashed into the wall before her. She began to sting from the jolt that it brought, and looked up to see a strong hand grasping her wrist. Auron had dived forward to catch her, she realized, and was now on his stomach, wincing from the pain that hitting the ground had given him and holding her up simultaneously. She heaved a sigh of relief and heard him do the same as he slowly freed his other arm and pushed himself to his knees—and then to a squat—before rising to a stand and taking her with him, taking care to hold her away from the wall.

Her feet didn't hit the ground, though. He stood to his full height and lifted her, by the wrist, to eye level to stare at her with a scolding look, a look that said "This is how much stronger I am than you. Listen." He was silent for a moment before he sighed again.

"Be more careful," was all he said as his grip left her wrist and she landed on her feet with a bounce. She blinked as he remained where he stood instead of turning on his heel to stride away like he normally would have. She did not say thank you—or anything for that matter. There was one thing about the man that would have been common knowledge had people paid more attention, and it was that Auron did not like people to show him much gratitude after he had done something for them, even if the deed was saving the person's life. He had done what he had to do. No more.

_A hard motto, if you ask me_, thought Rikku. Avoiding his ever-penetrating gaze, she lifted the claw to study again. Well, it really couldn't count as a claw. More like a boxing glove…a very _hard_ boxing glove. After she had had her short fill and dared to look up again, she saw something in his eye that was not penetrating at all. But before she could pick out what it was, he returned to normal Auron-mode and her eyes were staring at his back as he retreated with the others. The way he had stood there, it had felt like he had been waiting for something.

She couldn't help but stay where she was and ponder what had been different about the way he had been looking at her. Several fantasies arose and she beat them all away, knowing that none of them would ever turn to reality and it would only hurt to dream that they would. Finally giving up on the subject, she dismissed it all and hurried after the others, who were already ducking through the narrow passage at the corner.

* * *

After presenting her prize to her father quite triumphantly, Rikku shrank away from the others to stroll about the halls of the airship, stopping every once and a while to have a conversation with a stray Al Bhed in her native language. She was pleased to find that it still easily rolled off of her tongue. Maybe that was because she was afraid that she had been speaking in Spiran for too long a while.

Most of them were concerned with the upcoming battles, but she assured them that they would be fine, that they would win. She got a sick taste in her mouth after four or five of those conversations—she really did hate lying. Not _all_ of them would be fine.

Her gaze cast to the ground in melancholy thoughts, she didn't really notice when she bumped into a hard figure. She recognized them immediately, and merely leaned against their chest.

"Hiya, Kimahri." She said, unable to make her voice bouncy and bubbly.

"Rikku." The Ronso nodded in acknowledgement and let her lean against his wide front. "Rikku is concerned."

"Yep."

"Rikku is concerned for Auron. Kimahri sees it in Rikku's eyes."

She fidgeted, and the action did not go unnoticed. Realizing that he had flustered her, he continued more tactfully.

"All are concerned for Auron. None want Auron to go, but Auron must go."

"But why?" So she had heard one explanation. She wanted another.

"Auron feels guilty for cheating death," Kimahri replied. "Such burden weighs heavy on Auron's heart. Only Farplane will give Auron peace." He paused. "Does Rikku care for Auron the way Yuna cares for Tidus?"

Her heart skipped a beat as she stood on her own two legs, looking up into Kimahri's golden eyes. "Yeah," she said breathlessly, blushing. "Something like that."

"Kimhari sees."

She began to walk off, but just before she rounded the corner she turned back. "Kimahri…uh, you won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Not if Rikku does not wish it."

She grinned. "Thanks, you big furry lug, you."

As she skipped off, Kimahri seriously wondered if that was a term of endearment.

* * *

Rikku found Auron in the corridor leading to the top of the airship. For some reason she felt a strange need to talk to him, even if it was just straight-to-the-point small talk. She settled into the routine that she sensed upon walking into the room, leaning against the wall next to him and staying silent. He didn't open his eye or talk or even do anything to show that he knew she was there. He didn't want to talk. But Rikku could change that. The first time he showed he knew of her presence was when he gave a soft nod, and she considered that small progress and relaxed. But when he finally did talk, she was all ears.

"I am…tired." He said it as if it were the most alien thing in the world, which made her giggle.

"But you just woke up a while ago," she said. "You're tired again already?"

"Not that kind of tired."

Her smile vanished and she looked away. Oh. _That_ kind of tired. Auron saw this and gave a soft sigh.

"I'm also ready to fall asleep again," he said, hoping to boost her spirits back up to normal. Sometimes he hated the fact that he could depress her with the slightest word. "Maybe I'm becoming lazy."

She smiled at that and pride filled him. "Yeah," she said. "After all, pulling ancient weapons out of cliff walls and saving people from falling off of that same cliff is hardly any work."

He chuckled. "We need to go to Besaid," he said out of the blue.

"We as in all of us?" _Or we as in you and me? Because that would be just as good._

"Yes. Have you ever been to Besaid?"

"I don't think so."

Auron leaned his head against the wall behind him. "It's a peaceful place. Had I ever settled, that's where I would have liked to live. Even Braska asked me to take Yuna there after he had defeated Sin."

Rikku blinked at this new piece of information as he grunted. "I owe Kimahri a lot."

She decided not to pursue why he wanted to go to Besaid at all.

"Hey Auron?"

He was silent.

"Did Kimahri watch you die the first time? I mean, become an Unsent?"

He gave such a long pause that she thought he wasn't going to answer. "Yes, he did."

"What were your last words?"

That question seemed to catch him off guard until he pushed off of the wall. "Well I'll have to choose them carefully, because as you have made so very clear to me—" he paused to smile— "I haven't said them yet."

He turned and left without another word, and Rikku's mind spun with questions and ideas. But one was at the center of it all: Maybe she had actually changed his perspective about his condition. Maybe the burden on his heart was lessening. And maybe—just maybe—he was going to stay.

She didn't dare to hope.

* * *

Besaid was just as Auron remembered; bright and restful with a soft breeze that smelled lightly of sea salt. The sand under their feet was soft and nearing white in color, and as soon as Rikku noticed it she pounced onto the ground and rolled around in mounds of the stuff.

"Ahhh…_sand_!" she exclaimed. "I missed you so much!"

The others watched as she sat up and shook it out of her hair, pulling her leg close to tug off her boots.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Yuna said. "We have hard ground ahead. No sand."

Rikku frowned and let go of the edge of her boots, staggering playfully to a stand before gesturing for them to lead the way. As they began to traverse the beach, though, she took off at full speed in a completely different direction. They stopped, eyeing her in confusion.

"I saw something!" she said, waving her arm. "This way!"

She charged in the direction of said "something" while they followed far behind, taking their time. When they had reached her, she was already bending down to pillage a chest that was half-buried in the soft wall, one step ahead of them as usual. She heaved and it swung open, though the object inside was too small for everyone to see until she grabbed it and held it high.

It was another one of those strange stone tokens, though it took on the design of a version of the moon. The white ribbon on this crest read exactly that: "The Moon."

"Should we keep it?" Rikku asked.

"Considering what the other one did to your new weapon, I say we should," Lulu replied. The Al Bhed nodded, seeing the sense. She shoved it into the pouch at her thigh and immediately seemed to forget about it. "Okay, show me Besaid!"

The girl gaped and made sounds of admiration at every river and waterfall she saw, stopping for a long time to take a look at the coral fields that were visible through the crystal clear water. However, she fell silent at the prayer stone until she saw that it overlooked the village, at which she also gaped.

"I can see why people would want to live here," she said at one point upon reaching the village itself. "There's like…no city stuff."

"It's peaceful," Tidus said.

"And this is originally where you first landed in Spira, right?" Yuna asked.

"No," said Tidus, Auron and Rikku at once. Tidus immediately whipped around to face the man.

"Wait, how do you know that?" he asked Auron.

"I was there."

"Say_ what _now" Tidus's eyes widened.

"You heard me. I was there when you first entered Spira." He paused as Tidus cleared his throat to rant, but didn't give him time. "You landed in Baaj Temple, which is currently in ruins."

The blonde scowled. "So why didn't you help me?"

"Jecht asked me not to," Auron replied. "He said that it was to be an ordeal that you were to survive on your own. But while he said I could not help you, he did not say that I couldn't watch over you. Make sure you were safe."

Tidus was probably fuming over the fact that his father had asked his only ally at the time not to help him, but Auron cut through his thoughts as best he could. "Though, I'm sure he would have allowed me to step in if you were near death, which I would have done anyway."

"So you were watching me the whole way to Luca?!"

"I was."

"But how did you go undetected, Sir Auron?" asked Yuna. "On the ship to Kilikka, we probably would have noticed you."

"And why didn't you help out when Sin attacked us, huh?" Wakka pointed a finger accusingly.

"But I did assist you." Auron rolled his shoulder to adjust his armor unnecessarily. "Remember the fiends that ambushed you from the back during the battle?"

"Yeah…we put them down pretty easily, ya?"

"I weakened them instead of killed them," Auron said.

They exchanged glances as they remembered how so very easy it had been to kill the already wounded fiends. Yuna muttered a polite thank you.

"I still want you to show me all the places you hid in while I was at that Barge place," Tidus said.

"Baaj."

"Whatever!"

They proceeded into the village where people were taking their time with whatever business they had, strolling slowly from tent to colorful tent as if they had all the time in the world. A few of the more faithful Yevonites trudged over and informed the party that they "knew that the Lady Yuna is no traitor, and the Al Bhed are a race of heathens for spreading such lies." Rikku cast her gaze nervously to the ground at this, her hand running over the rim of her goggles as she tried to decide whether or not to put them on. When the last of the Yenvonites had given their regards, she decided to do so and lifted them to her eyes as smoothly as she could as to not draw attention to them. She jumped when Auron leaned down and lowered his voice to mutter advice.

"Do not put those on," he said. "Maybe discovering that one of Yuna's guardians is an Al Bhed will knock some sense into these narrow-minded people."

She had almost no trouble keeping her gaze forward after that.

Yuna directed them to the crusader's lodge, informing them that she wanted to say hello to Gatta before they left. The dark skinned teen was standing at the lead of a group of crusaders, apparently dishing out orders.

"Advance toward the shore killing every fiend you see. And don't let your guard down when you get there! Report immediately if Sin appears!" Gatta saluted. "Crusaders, move out!"

"Sir!" The warriors gave a return salute to their captain and rushed out of the tent, some even bumping into the group as they entered the back. One man ran into Auron and must have jumped fifty feet before he charged after his friends.

"Hey!" Tidus called. Gatta turned to completely acknowledge them.

"Lo."

"Whadaya mean 'lo?'" Tidus asked. "What's going on?"

"What, this? Just training! You never know when Sin will come. We have to keep sharp for the village's sake." Gatta abruptly took a seat on one of the nearby beds, folding his hands over one another to rest his head on. "But really, my heart's heavy. It's not like I can go around crying in front of my men."

Tidus and Yuna exchanged a glance, and the blonde walked over to put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up in surprise.

"Luzzu was probably the same way," Tidus said. "No matter what happened, he'd never let it show in front of you. Always a fighter, never a complainer, you know?"

"Maybe…you're right." Gatta stood up and stepped past him, saluting once more and informing them that he had to leave. "My men await."

A thumbs up was Tidus's response. "Good luck."

"You too."

He turned and left without another word, and Auron raised an eyebrow.

"Well done," he said to the blonde, heading out.

Outside, they saw Gatta vanish as he rounded the hill from where they had just come, running at full speed.

"Wow. The kid can really run, ya?" Wakka said, stepping out of the tent. Just then Auron felt someone reach up and tap his shoulder; he turned to see an old woman standing off to the side, hunched over with age and holding something that looked a lot like a crown.

"Are you Sir Auron?" she asked, her voice cracking for the same reason that she bent over. Her eyes were squinted in an attempt to identify him.

"I am."

She lifted the crown slowly, resting it in her ancient palms. "Ten years ago I meant to give this Blossom Crown to High Summoner Braska to give to his daughter," she said. "It has been passed down through my family for many generations, and I thought that a little girl might enjoy it in her father's absence. But before I could give it to you, you had obtained the aeon and you three were heading off to the ship that would take you from Besaid. I sent my grandson to deliver it, but you had already left. I went to Bevelle some time later, about five years or so, but his daughter was not there."

She held it higher. "I know it might not be of much use to her now, but would you do this old woman a kind favor and deliver it to Lady Yuna for me?"

Auron almost smiled. Almost. "If it is Lady Yuna that is the recipient, you can give it to her yourself." He stepped aside to reveal her, and the old woman gave a start.

"Ah! My apologies, Lady Yuna. I did not see you there. Oh, it is an honor to meet you." She shuffled over to the summoner and presented the crown a second time. "Please accept this gift, for I have no heirs anymore and I can think of no higher honor than for you to receive it."

Yuna smiled warmly. "I would be honored," she said, gently taking the crown from her papery skinned palms.

The woman attempted to bow and muttered her thanks before waddling off, at which Rikku sniggered. She always found it funny how old people walked.

The "crown" didn't seem very crownlike—in fact, it was probably wide enough to fit around Rikku's waist. Hardly headgear worthy. But the designs were expertly painted and carved; depicting exotic flowers and vines, it would probably look like real plants from a distance.

"It is…very well made," Yuna said, pointing out the obvious. "We—I should keep it. She said it was a very valuable heirloom, after all." Nobody disagreed.

Their next destination turned out to be the temple, which still rang with the Hymn to constantly soothe its guests. As they headed further in, however, they began to wonder why they had come at all. Here, people bowed and prayed to a false idol and believed that it was all real. Taking a long look at her father's statue, Yuna briskly led the others out.

_That was pointless_, thought Rikku, but she didn't dare voice it. It _had_ had a little point to it, after all—it gave them even more of a reason to expose Yevon for what he/it really was. But then there was the fact that the more faithful Yevonites would be crushed…sometimes Rikku wondered if her cousin ever really thought about that. If she did, she would surely hesitate.

Nearby a little boy was conversing loudly with a friend. "Hey, I heard that the Guado blew up the Al Bhed's home," he said to the other boy. "I don't got no love for the Al Bhed, but that's just going too far!"

Rikku smiled as she passed out of earshot of the rest of whatever he said. "Where to now?" They were obviously done here.

"Barge Temple," Tidus replied.

"Baaj."

"Whatever!!"

Auron gave a chuckle. "You will be very surprised to see how I hid myself," he said.

"…I will?"

* * *

Tidus stared at the holographic map of Spira as if he were braindead. He probably was.

"So where is Barge Temple?" he asked.

"Baaj." _Dammit, get it right,_ Auron thought.

"What_ever_!"

Auron ignored him and stepped forward, taking a look at the map for himself. He touched a point on the map, and almost immediately there was a now-familiar beep. "Baaj Temple Ruins found," read the information box at the bottom.

"There."

* * *

The air of the ruins remained eternally gloomy, a light fog anchored into the place like its DNA. Maybe it was because of what had happened here, Auron guessed—whatever that event had been, this place was just flooded rubble, now. It _had_ once been a temple after all, for however long or short a time.

The people who preferred to stay dry (which included everyone but Tidus, Wakka and Rikku) had found a sanctuary path in collapsed pillars that peeked above the water. While those three swam comfortably and occasionally splashed each other for amusement, the others used these pillars and sections of what once been a building to travel dry. It was not long before Auron pointed to a random boulder a few feet out from where he stood.

"That is where I hid," Auron said. Everyone gave him a puzzled look.

"S'cuse me?" Tidus said as the warrior hopped over to it and stood at the top.

"You don't remember what was here when you first awakened, do you?"

Tidus sank into thought. He had woken up, called for Auron, and then an annoying bird squawked at him from the top of the rock, and then he'd yelled, "Heeeeeeeey!!" to no one. Wait—the bird.

"There was a red bird here," he said. "So?"

Auron stayed silent and waited for him to make the connection, which he eventually did. His eyes could have fallen out of his skull at any given moment, then.

"No way," he said in disbelief. Auron nodded. "No _way_!"

The others still hadn't figured it out, and their gazes became even more confused.

"Do you want proof?" asked Auron, squatting. It almost looked like he was perching on the tip of the rock. He closed his eye in what they recognized as concentration, and he suddenly began to…shrink. He freed his other arm and they watched as it grew flat and red, seeming to grow scales—no, feathers! His neck thinned and retreated as his nose disappeared and his sunglasses seemed to fade away, and his mouth extended to what eventually became a short beak. His legs thinned as well, his feet changing to what could potentially be vicious talons.

And suddenly, Auron was the bird that Tidus remembered; a red and grey one that resembled a hawk. He ruffled his feathers uneasily, shifting his feet and resetting his balance. All were gaping.

"Woah!" Rikku squeaked, wonder lacing her words. "That's amazing!"

"How did you do that?" Tidus asked. Auron gave a sharp shriek in response, and the others realized that he was unable to speak like a human at the moment. Tossing his head in annoyance, Auron spread his wings and glided smoothly to a patch of rubble that was so worn away that it was a mound of dust. Very malleable dust.

With a little difficulty, he spread out the pile and began to scratch what he intended to say into the grainy filth, writing in fragments to speed things up. When he was done, he hopped aside to let them read.

"Can't do this often," Yuna quoted, scanning over his script before asking him, "Can you change back?"

The Auron shook his short head and scribbled something else into the dirt. "Too much energy," it read. "Need hour before attempt." He wrote something else. "My weakness, explain later."

"So…we keep going?" Rikku asked, suddenly squealing when a shadow moved under her in the water, probably brushing against her leg. "Uhh, I suddenly don't feel like swimming anymore." Tidus and Wakka exchanged glances.

She scrambled out of the water, dripping wet and shaking the water out of her hair, which earned irritated protests from the dry ones. Auron shook himself and seemed to glare up at her until he unfurled his wings and gave a short leap to land on her shoulder. She glanced over at him to the side.

"Why me?" she asked. He shifted, his talons digging into his new perch. At first she mistook it for embarrassment, but then she realized that he was trying to demonstrate that her shirt was the thickest of the dry group. With those needle-sharp claws of his, he would have any other shoulder bloody and useless by the time they got where they were going. "Oh, I see."

He seemed to nod and shift one more time before settling comfortably on her shoulder. She didn't mind much; as long as she ignored the fact that a very sexy man was sitting on her, she would be fine. Plus, she imagined that she probably looked pretty badass with a hawk at her side. She wondered how he would react if she reached up and patted his head…she didn't try it. After all, a couple of fingers would be sorely missed.

Realizing that they now had to rely on Tidus instead of Auron for directions about this place, they began to doubt where they were going when Tidus had a blank spot in his memory. That is, until Auron went airborne and guided them for a ways before banking to make a U-turn to land gracefully on Rikku's shoulder once again. How did you get so good at flying? Yuna asked. He gave a shriek that probably meant "A little practice never did any harm." The sound hurt Rikku's ear considering how close he was, and he seemed to give her an apologetic look after she winced before returning his gaze to the fogged landscape before them, his enhanced eyes catching all movement. Once or twice they flickered to the water, seeing something that she could not; perhaps he was glimpsing the reason Rikku had left the water.

Their makeshift path ended as the rubble became more whole, actually forming a structure up ahead. A large building, somewhat similar to the Zanarkand dome but without the pyreflies and the dreadful feeling that lives had been lost there.

There was no entrance above the water as far as they could tell. Tidus immediately volunteered to scout the area underwater with Wakka, and Rikku informed them that she was going to stay behind. Auron screeched softly to get their attention, then swiped the air with a talon. They got the message, drawing their weapons just in case and disappearing into the murky water.

They all stared at the place where they had vanished as the water rippled and finally stilled, giving no sign that it held two people. Or more than just them, they discovered, when Tidus burst from the pool and flew several feet into the air. Auron had seen the fear in his eyes, the movement of the cause, and Wakka's form underwater before Tidus had even gotten the chance to tell them what was wrong.

"Guys!" he cried, "There's a fiend under there! A huge one, too!"

Rikku didn't hesitate to draw Godhand from where it hung near her waist and strap it on, running forward and leaping in after him and giving Auron barely any time to jump off before she hit the water. He tried to call after her, to say "be careful," but all that came out was the strange shriek that was his temporary voice. And then he began to shout mental curses for disabling himself when he could be helping her—and the other two, of course. Of course.

And he proceeded to watch the battle below begin with painful clarity.

* * *

Whew. It's two in the morning, and my writer's block is disappearing. Sort of.

I am...tired. Heh...I like puns.

More luck to me, eh?

-Ari Elisianete


	13. Back Off

First of all, I have a credit to give. I would like to thank Xx-DarkStar for helping me beat my way through my writer's block (which is still there even after writing this chapter). I talked to her on another site and we tossed around a few ideas when I got stuck, and suddenly my brain got going again for a while—meaning just long enough to write the rest of the chapter. So if you have some spare time, send her a thank you. I really don't think I would have been able to finish the chapter as quickly as I did (which wasn't quickly at all) without her help. Thanks, Darkstar. I owe you one.

Bad news though at the end author's note of the chapter: In short, I won't be able to finish this before school starts. Explained in detail at the end of this chapter.

Okay, I'm done rambling.

Wait! The Random Auron Image of the day. Umm…oh, did you know that if you have the Kingdom Hearts 2 clip of him saying "This is my story, and you're not part of it," you can make him sing most of Numa Numa?

Okay, _now_ I'm done. Promise.

* * *

Auron had forgotten what it was like to see out of two eyes, especially these ones since they made the world seem as if a very skilled artist had put his vision on a canvas and sharpened everything in the picture, brought everything into better focus. Though, he almost wished that the creature they were up against remained unseen.

It was large as Tidus had said. Two blue "arms" extended out from either side, covered by a hard but flexible shell, flexible by the way it moved when it lashed out to punch at one of its enemies. The rest of it was dominated by a cage-like stomach that looked like it was made of coral or some other material and had grown algae on it at some point. Its back was shelled as well; though it had holes for thin tentacles that ran across it and swayed with the water. It was big, but it was fast.

In spite of themselves, the others on the surface had drawn their weapons and were ready to jump into stance at any moment—except for Auron, who didn't really pose much of a threat to anything at the moment and was hating every second of it. The creature punched, Rikku dodged. Punched again, Tidus dodged. Again, Wakka. It might have been fast, but not fast enough to catch them.

Tidus got a bright idea, then, dodging another punch and swimming around to the back of the thing. He raised his sword and swung at one of the tentacles, severing it and earning a roar of pain from the monster that made their ears ring even though it wasn't amplified by the water. Knowing that he was the only one who could continue to attack the tentacles, Rikku and Wakka stayed to its front and moved in time with each other, attacking for a combined result.

The creature was pushed back a few feet from the force of their blows which caused Tidus to crash into the shell and, subsequently, the tentacles. Now knowing exactly where Tidus was, the thing whirled around and knocked the boy from its back, following up by using the momentum to slam its arm into him. A critical hit, to be sure, but not enough to put the boy out of battle. He flipped and landed horizontally on a broken pillar, pushing off to use _his_ momentum to counterattack.

It was then that Rikku decided to have a bright idea of her own. Swimming right up to the fiend's face, she punched at its incredibly small eye and hit. That was her first mistake—her second was striking a quick victory pose. Her opponent began to uppercut in agony, and she noticed what was going on just before the claw crashed into her stomach and sent her flying through the air, eventually shooting out of the water. Her body was limp until she hit the water again and disappeared. Auron screeched and launched from his perch on a nearby rock, skimming the water and looking for the monster's other eye or a tentacle that Tidus hadn't destroyed, _anything_ that he could damage.

But he knew that if he went underwater he wouldn't be able to surface without assistance as a result of his feathers getting wet and being pulled down by the water's overall weight. He hadn't any attacks that could pierce through the water, either.

Except for one, he realized.

Ever since Ender had shown him that place in his mind where that strange power sat waiting to be used, he had sensed it at every fraction of every second, burning and seething with the desire to be manipulated for two purposes: to destroy and create. Auron didn't know how to do the latter, but he thought he might be able to do the former.

Tipping his flight path to go straight up, he imagined himself in that place again. And suddenly he was there, the light was there, the tendrils were there. They slithered toward him almost menacingly, but this time Auron didn't fight it as they wrapped around him.

This time he felt not an overwhelming power, but a flood of fire and finesse. It enveloped him, and he realized that _now_ was the moment that he had to seize control. In turn he wrapped his mind around the power and he was soon filled with the sort of control he wanted. He felt like he could do _anything_ now.

Looping back to dive to the surface and beginning to angle toward a horizontal path, he opened his mouth—err, beak—and a blue tinted stream of fire emerged and shot into the water as if that was no obstacle, slicing across the fiend as he turned. The shell on its back split and fell off, and to Auron's relief Rikku had already rejoined the battle. She swam around and gave a tough jab to the thing's soft and exposed back. He figured his work was done.

But he found that he could not release the power which was constantly flowing into him and reformed his opinion. Destructive and reconstructive…maybe it was time to try the other option. Bending the flood to his will, he told it what he wanted: a shield that would allow him to go underwater and assist Rikku. He looked to the side to notice that he had begun to glow with the same shade that the beam had been, and took that as a signal to dive.

The water didn't seem to touch him as he submerged; it was still similar to flying through the air, even if he was holding his breath. The monster seemed to notice him for the first time and swiped at him just to see what he would do, to which he dodged and banked toward it to dig his talons into an undamaged tentacle, beating his wings and eventually ripping it off to toss away. Oh, yes; he was a threat now. He soared through the water like it was no effort to him at all, and it wasn't. It was power, it was power beyond imagination to him, it was—

Nothing. All of the power was suddenly gone, and the shield gone with it. He jerked to a stop as water soaked into his feathers and weighed him down, thwarting any attempt he could make at resurfacing. It was then that he noticed the claw coming; the sharp point of it heading straight toward him. He tried to flap his wings in hopes of dodging, but he only succeeded in rotating himself a little. It took a moment for the pain to register as it stabbed, going almost straight through him to the right of his heart, near his shoulder. It only stayed lodged in his body for a moment before withdrawing and slicing his left wing before it slammed into him, knocking him back to crash right into a pillar, trailing crimson behind him.

He knew he was lucky; it would have been a killing blow if it had struck a little more to the left, and it would have been a killing blow to him as it was had he not already been dead. Sure, he was capable of dying again—which would actually turn him into a fiend. But the fact that he was already dead gave him more endurance for reasons he couldn't explain.

Pain overwhelmed him and he stilled and floated limply against the wall, taking care to keep his air where it belonged: in his lungs. Enhanced endurance or no, he could still die again by a cause like drowning or blood loss. He tried not to wonder which would happen first if someone didn't see him soon and bring him to shore.

He didn't see the rest of the battle; he had closed his eyes to concentrate on nothing but not breathing. He heard movement in the water, heard the beast give a few cries of pain. His lungs began to burn, but he tried to welcome the pain. It was a symbol that he was still with the world. But the burning became stronger until his lungs wanted to explode, and just as he thought he was going to _have_ to breathe, someone scooped him up and kicked toward the surface.

And then there was air—sweet, sweet air. That and an equally sweet voice that called out to his comrades.

"Guys!" Rikku cried. "Auron's hurt, real bad!"

So he was in Rikku's arms. He wondered if his blood was disgusting her at all…

He heard a few gasps as they saw the extent of his wounds, with Tidus pointing out the obvious. He opened his eyes with effort, scanning them as Yuna cast her strongest cure spell. The gash on his wing almost closed, but the wound through his body only became less deep from the middle. This was going to cost him a lot; he might never be able to work his left arm the same way again. It was Yuna who voiced these thoughts, causing Rikku to tighten her grip on him in a hug as if she thought that would automatically heal him. It really only sent fire searing down his entire body, and he screeched in protest. She apologized about ten times, holding him a bit more loosely. He was in too much pain to enjoy the fact that she was indeed holding him, his thoughts coming in fragments as his vision blurred on and off.

"He's going to need to change back soon," he heard Yuna point out. He muttered his form of agreement, jerking his head toward the floor. Rikku hesitated before setting him gently on the ground and stepping back, telling the others to do the same. He began to focus on turning back to his true self, on doing what came so difficultly to him: altering his body. His feathers tanned and grew smaller and his eyes turned russet for a split second before he was forced to give up. He just didn't have enough energy yet, especially not now. He was the hawk again, which was now more red than grey and breathing heavily.

"He can't," Tidus said. "He said he needs a lot of energy to do it, right?"

"We can't bring him back to the airship," Rikku said picking him back up as gingerly as she could. "Nobody there knows that he's an Unsent, and I don't think he wants anyone else to know but us. Isn't that right?" Auron nodded, wincing at the additional pain it brought. "So what'll we do?"

Yuna glanced at the broken temple, weighing their options. "We'll take him there," she decided, gesturing toward it. "We'll wait until he has enough strength to return to normal. Meanwhile we'll see what's in there at all; this used to be a temple, after all."

No one disagreed, and Tidus led them to the opening that the fiend had created in its ambush. It took them a few minutes to clear the rubble that was littered about a stone staircase, but they were inside soon enough.

The place must have been at least ten stories high; the floors above all had stone statues of menacing creatures littered around the rings that supported the floors. Mounds of massive chunks of the ceiling or whatever hovered over them were piled up against the walls on all sides, causing an uneasy air to settle onto the group. Sure, the place looked sturdy enough, but who knows when it could all come crashing down on their heads? That wouldn't be the best experience in the world…

There were a few miniature waterfalls falling from the higher levels and splattering onto the painted and carved designs decorating the floor and doors. They were little canals flowing about the area, not even and inch wide. The fog was even thicker here, which only added to the icy humidity.

Rikku looked down at Auron to check on him and her heart skipped several beats when she saw that his eyes were closed, but after he opened them upon sensing her tense she heaved a small sigh of relief. She wasn't able to completely relax, though. He was still bleeding; her arms were soaked with it. But she didn't mind that second part.

They each found relatively dry spots to settle down in, knowing that the day was essentially over and they would need sleep soon, like it or not. Rikku was leaning against a (miraculously) still-standing pillar when Yuna stepped over and made another attempt at healing, which completely closed the wing and narrowed the chest wound even further. She even went the distance to donate a little of her energy to him through the spells she cast.

He tried to change back again, but his efforts only produced the same half-successful result, which was basically a waste of energy and only sent him gasping for breath. He was so tired…all he wanted to do was sleep, now. He _needed_ to rest, actually, because there was absolutely no way that he could gather enough strength to revert in under an hour, which was the total amount of time that it usually took for the others to fall asleep…or it was the amount of time he assumed he had before he would black out. They were exhausted, too. He could tell.

He remembered drifting to sleep right in Rikku's lap, and then hearing Bahamut's voice.

_No matter what he might do, don't let Ender prevent you from defeating Sin,_ he said. _We will protect you._

_We promise._

What a strange thing to tell him.

* * *

Ender gave a short "tsk" at the condition Auron was in.

"Such a fool," he muttered, squatting to get a better look at the man's wounds. He still hadn't gathered enough energy to change back, he noted. It was an…inconvenience that Auron had so much trouble doing what came easily to other Unsents—that is, altering his body. Reaching down to dip two fingers in his wound for blood, he lifted it to what little light there was, admiring how it glistened darkly, beginning to show traces of silver. _Amazing,_ he thought. _Even his blood is angry. Very good, very good._

He pressed his hand over the entire gash, which was still seeping. It only took a flick of his thoughts to close the wound completely, leaving no sign that there had ever been one. "I can spare a good deed, little one," he said.

He stood up, examining his blood soaked fingers. He slowly brought them to his lips and licked a little off, tasting his victim's soon-to-be agony. Ick. It even _tasted_ angry. He smiled.

"But no good deed goes unpunished."

* * *

He was human again. He could feel the fingers that he had missed.

That was what he felt first; inner feeling began to spread from there to his head and down, all the way to his toes. For some reason he expected to feel his heart beat, and was oddly disappointed when it did not. The wound was gone—he could feel that, too. A name immediately leaped into his mind, and he wasn't sure whether to be thankful or afraid. Ender had healed him completely, eliminating all worries about the loss of use of his arm. But it was the fact that he _had_ healed him that gave him unease until he remembered the words that he'd heard just before he had drifted away. "We will protect you," Bahamut had said. That brought a little relief.

Now to establish where he was—as soon as he had, he regretted it. He was leaning back against a pillar, but of course that wasn't what bothered him. Rikku was leaning against him, her head resting on his right shoulder, his own head resting on hers. He sat up immediately but didn't move his side so the girl wouldn't fall to the floor and have quite the awakening. Well, it could have been worse. He could have woken up sprawled across her, and she could have been awake. She began to slide forward, but he caught her and pushed her to a position that would allow her to lean against the pillar instead of him and stood up, glancing at the others. All were asleep.

Looking up, he saw sunlight trying to burn its way from the holes in the ceiling through the fog to reach them. It had warmed up a few degrees.

He felt something on the edge of his mind…a thought—no, a memory. He dismissed it but didn't push it away; it would come to him eventually. The first thought that came to his mind after that was "Seven days left." _That_ thought he pushed away.

What had happened here? he asked himself as he examined the ruins around him. Had this place been abandoned and left to rot, or had something—or someone—effectively destroyed it? Maybe a fiend had gone on a rampage before someone had finally killed it. Wait, no. If there had been killings then corpses would be lying around the place, and he saw or smelled none. There are two things one never forgets: the smell of rotting/burning flesh, and the sound of a person you care about screaming.

The memory he'd been trying to remember came crashing forward and his vision blurred, but amazingly enough he did not fall unconscious nor feel pain. He just went a little numb as the memories flashed before his eyes.

He saw the same girl he had seen in his dream, flat on the floor and staring blankly upward in death. He saw Ender holding a ball of light, looking pleased with himself. He saw the bodies of the children burned in Ender's fire, dead but without a scratch on them, and the parents and merchants in the exact same condition. The buildings around them were ashes. He saw Rikku on the floor, a slash through her throat. Ender was smiling. He saw his own body boxed in stone. Himself fading away. The images came faster and faster until he couldn't distinguish one from the other, and then the last image came to him in all clarity:

He saw his father.

Auron had fallen to his knees and was now staring right at drops of blood on the floor, some being washed away by the little canals through the area. He reached up a hand to wipe something wet from his mouth, but when he withdrew it, it was stained with crimson.

Oh.

So he had coughed up a little blood. No big—

A sudden coughing fit racked his body violently, and more blood spilled. It seemed like hours before it was over and was able to stare down at the glistening substance in his hand. It looked like—were there light streaks of sliver in the stuff? Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

He exhaled and breathed deeply and evenly, standing up to hold his palm under one of the waterfalls nearby to wash the blood away only to suffer again and feel the icy water even longer. That was three times.

He glanced back and gave a mental curse when he discovered that Rikku had woken up and was staring right at him. Just how long _had_ she been awake?

"Are you okay?"

He gave the usual lie for a response, then "The wound is gone."

Her eyes widened happily. "Really?"

He didn't answer, and she took that for a yes. "Glad to hear it."

He successfully fought off another fit without actually coughing, and then the tightness in his throat was gone. He assumed that they were finally over, but kept breathing smoothly as a precaution.

If Rikku had woken naturally, then the others were bound to do the same at any moment. Yuna yawned; speak of the devil.

"Morning, Yunie!" Rikku said, pushing herself to a stand.

"Oh, Sir Auron," Yuna mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "You changed back."

He said nothing as one by one the others awakened in a similar manner.

"Hey, the birdman's awake," Tidus said jokingly.

"Excuse me?" Auron's eye narrowed. Before he could begin another taunt, Auron pointed out something that stopped him in his tracks. "If not for this _birdman_, you would be dead. It wasn't just the tides carried you to Besaid."

"What? You had a hand in that, too?"

He held up a hand for silence. "Be quiet."

Flustered at the sudden command, Tidus acted accordingly. "Why should I?"

"Be _quiet_." He glanced around. "Hear that?"

"Hear what?" Rikku asked, straining to catch a sound other than the constant pitter-patter of the waterfalls. Yuna gasped and walked briskly over to a door at the front of the room and pressed her ear to the stone.

"The Hymn!" she exclaimed. "I hear the Hymn!"

"A fayth rests here," Auron said. Tidus began an attempt to bust down the door, then was joined by Wakka; both attempts were unsuccessful. Auron and Kimahri exchanged glances before stepping forward and ramming the door once, which crumbled under their combined strength. A staircase leading upward was revealed.

"Kimahri go first," said the Ronso. "This dangerous place."

* * *

_How troublesome._

Ender glided along an onyxstone paved path, heading toward a massive building in the distance. He hummed a soft tune to himself as he walked, a tune that he'd heard a long, long time ago but thought that he'd forgotten. It was a hymn, he thought. Not what the living defined as the "Hymn" of the current day, but most certainly a hymn.

The flowers stretching out to the horizon to either side were colorful and still, for there were no breezes in the Farplane. There were no pyreflies here, either; no people. Only…_special_ exceptions like him were allowed access to this place. Everything was still but him as he headed along, the building fast approaching.

Before he knew it he was standing at the black marble gates to the interior, and he stopped as one of the top bars slithered to life as a miniature version of a great beast called a dragon, a creature that had ceased to exist long ago. It opened its mouth and exposed its vicious teeth to speak in a deep voice of authority.

"Name yourself and state your business," it ordered.

"I will do neither, for you are going to let me in whether you or the beings inside wish it or not," Ender replied.

It said nothing and snaked back into its place on the gate, which slid open without a sound. Ender reached up to take hold of his hood and gave it one good downward jerk to make sure it covered his eyes before heading forward.

The gate was actually a portal to somewhere else; a place called a White Room. The name was appropriate—nothing here had a color other than pure shades white. Even Ender's robes lost their dark shade as he entered, his face growing so pale that it glowed.

At the center of the rectangular room was a long, semicircle shaped table with eight chairs total, seven on the curved edge and one on the straight. He sat in the one on the straight edge. In other circumstances this might have been thought of as the lowest position, but Ender considered it the seat of power.

One by one the seven chairs were filled; first the fayth of Shiva, then Valefor, Ifrit, Ixion, Yojimbo, Anima and the Magus Sisters—who merely stood around their chair— then finally Bahamut in the seat directly across from him.

"Hello, Ender," said the boy. Ender didn't even try to smile, only said,

"You rang?"

* * *

They could hear the Hymn clearly now, but this wasn't the Chamber of the Fayth. It was the room that came _before_ the chamber, the room that the guardians would normally wait for their summoner in. Six dust covered statues sat symmetrically across from each other, small spheres in their outstretched hands which pulsed softly with potential.

"Well...what are we supposed to do to get in the chamber?" Tidus asked, his shuffling footsteps kicking up dust. Auron waved it away with an annoyed expression; too much dust would make him start coughing again. He didn't need Rikku or Yuna to see that he was ill. He even avoided giving advice to prevent himself from speaking—thankfully Lulu was observant enough to see what he wanted them to.

"Look at these spheres," she said, tapping one with her lacquered fingernail. It began to blaze with light and she withdrew her hand immediately, stepping back. The statues eyes flared to life, as well.

"Answer my riddle," was what it said. "What is broken every time it's spoken?"

They all went braindead. "What?" asked Tidus. "A riddle? Augh! I hate riddles! They're so confusing."

"Silence," Auron said.

"That is correct." The statue's eyes faded to darkness, but the sphere remained glowing.

"Huh? How is that right?" Tidus scratched the back of his head.

"Silence is broken every time anything is said," Auron explained. "If 'silence' is the word that is spoken, then the silence is broken."

"Uh…I think I get it." He scanned the rest of the spheres. "Five to go?"

He reached out and touched another one—one at the end of the room, and it reacted the same way as the first.

"Answer my riddle," commanded the statue, then proceeded.

"A man was to be sentenced, and the judge told him, 'You may make a statement. If it is true, I'll sentence you to four years in prison. If it is false, I'll sentence you to six years in prison.' After the man made his statement, the judge decided to let him go free. What did the man say?"

Their heads must have exploded.

"They must get more difficult toward the end of the room," Auron said.

"You got the last one, so what's the answer to this one?"

"Silence."

"I don't think the same answer will work twice—"

Auron scowled. "I mean be quiet and let me think."

Enough time passed that the statue repeated itself, and Auron finally snapped his fingers. "I've got it."

"Well?" The others certainly had no idea what the answer was.

"He said, 'You'll sentence me to six years in prison,'" he answered.

"Why is that your answer?" asked the statue. Auron thought for a moment before replying again.

"If it was true, then the judge would have to make it false by sentencing him to four years," he explained. "If it was false, then he would have to give him six years, which would make it true. Rather than contradict his own word, the judge set the man free."

"That is correct."

The statue's eyes faded, and the others gaped.

"I am good at riddles."

"I'll say!" Rikku skipped over to touch the sphere across from the one he'd already solved at the front of the room.

"Answer my riddle," it said. "Until I am measured I am not known, yet how you miss me when I have flown."

"That's an easy one!" Tidus claimed. "It's a bird!"

"That is incorrect."

Auron smirked. "The answer is time."

"That is correct."

The blonde glared. "I'll bet I could beat you in a fight any day," he mumbled.

"_Could_ you?" He raised an eyebrow.

Tidus abandoned a comeback. "Just do the next riddle."

"Some try to hide, some try to cheat, but time will show we always will meet. Try as you might to guess my name, I promise you'll know when you I do claim."

Auron's eye narrowed and he grimaced. "The answer is death."

"That is correct."

Next?

"Two bodies have I, though both joined in one. The more still I stand, the quicker I run."

"Oh, _oh_!" Rikku cried. "I know this one! Uhh…It's an hourglass!"

"That is correct."

Auron raised an eyebrow. "Well done," he said to her.

"Thanks!"

And the last:

"Answer my riddle," the statue said. "The one who makes it sells it. The one who buys it doesn't use it. The one who's using it doesn't know he's using it. What is it?"

"That's an age-old riddle," Auron said. "Very easy. The answer is a coffin."

"That is correct."

The statue faded away just like the others, and all of the spheres' lights were sucked away and 'poured' into a carved symbol of Yevon on the wall above the passage to the chamber, which opened. It glowed brightly for a moment before settling down, the spiritual barrier blocking entrance to the room disappeared.

"Let's go, then." Yuna ducked inside.

* * *

"_Those_ are your terms? _That_ is your proposal?" Ender could have burst out laughing or screaming with rage. "You sick bastards. That is completely out of line."

None of the fayth moved. "But that is our wish," Bahamut said calmly. "Do not jeopardize the possible defeat of Sin by interfering with Auron's development. Even with his limitations, he is very powerful. Think of what would happen if he were to break, if the hate for the living were to return while he was still discovering his potential." He paused. "But of course, you know the consequences of that quite well."

Ender went so far as to scowl, and the fayth continued. "Even as we speak, his mind is making way for the dominant power that is to appear—"

"I do hope you mean Balefire."

"I do."

There was a long silence, one that crushed Ender's ears until he became uncomfortable. "Rename your terms," he said. "Then we'll see if I agree."

"Stay away from Auron and anyone that is close to him until Sin is defeated and he is ready to move on to the Farplane. That is all we ask."

Ender gave a sinister smile. "I accept on one condition."

"It is?"

"Once he _has_ moved on, the restrictions set on me will die. Auron will be mine to deal with if so I wish, if I retrieve him first."

Each of the fayth pondered this, turning it over and over in their minds. They all glanced at Bahamut—the boy looked confident. They relaxed. "Do we have a deal?"

Though, he did hesitate. "We have a deal."

Ender brought a nail to his palm and slashed it open, bringing forth a silvery-red liquid—his blood—the only thing with color in the room. Dipping two fingers in it like ink, he dragged them across the table to draw a multitude of symbols. After he was done, the symbols peeled off of the white table and hovered in the air, glowing and tying together to form a net which glided over to him and settled over his head, sinking through his robes and into his skin. The restrictions were set.

"Good day," Ender said, vanishing. Straight to the point. There was a long silence before Shiva spoke.

"I do not like what we have just done," she said. Bahamut shook his head.

"I can't say that I'm comfortable with it, either. But I saw the symbols. The restrictions he set on himself were very tight, much tighter than our terms. He _is_ respecting our wishes, but this is only because he is overconfident. He thinks that no matter what he agrees to, he is still going to get his lab rat."

"What about his offer?" asked Yojimbo. "You know what it means. After Auron has been sent and the barriers are lifted, we won't be able to protect him anymore."

"That's right," Valefor agreed. "Ender will possess him just as he's done with the five others. Our only weapon against him then will be Mazrim, and there's no way he'd be happy to see us."

"He won't need to be," Bahamut said. "If it is Auron that is up at stake, all he will need to do is remember."

"That what do you suppose we do about Auron himself?" Ifrit crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Before we end our dreaming and lose most of our power on Spira—and before Ender can get to him, we will bring him into our haven until he can control himself. Then, hopefully, he will be able to destroy—or at least imprison Ender like Mazrim before him." Bahamut stood. "I promised Auron that we would protect him," he said, "and we intend to do just that." A pause. "Any thoughts, Anima?"

She shook her head and stared at the table with a far-off look in her eyes. "No," she replied. "But I am speaking to our subject's comrades right now."

* * *

"You are Maester Seymour's mother," said Yuna. A very beautiful, black-haired woman stood over the statue of the aeon.

"So you know," she said, he voice smooth and soothing. "Yet still you seek my aid?" She paused. "My son, do you not hate him?"

Well, they certainly had a bone to pick with him, but to say it in front of his mother? It wasn't decent.

"It is alright," she continued. "He is the one who sowed the seeds of hatred. He is to blame."

A ghost of Seymour at a much younger age appeared at the edge of the room. His sleeves were pressed to his face to conceal his tears again. "But I am at fault for letting him become what he was. He was always alone—half Guado, half man. I wanted to give him strength to live by himself, and so I became a fayth." She put a hand over her heart and shook her head in regret. "But because I let him taste power, he began to thirst for more. He was not satisfied with my aeon; he wanted more. More power."

Tidus saw where she was going. "And he found Sin," he finished for her.

"Yes." She pressed her hands together, probably in prayer. "Come, summoner. I will bestow you with my power—the dark aeon, Anima." A specter of the beast appeared behind her. "Destroy Sin," she said as she faded away, "And my son's obsession with it…though it is small recompense for what I did to him."

And she was gone.

"It is amazing how one's entire personality can depend so greatly on how you were raised," Lulu said. Yuna nodded in silent agreement, leading the way out of the chamber. Memories that Auron thought he had locked in the "never remember again" section of his mind somehow got loose, but since they were his own memories and not a vision that made him curse with pain he was able to push them away with little difficulty. Yes; the only thing those memories brought was a headache that didn't last.

At least the fog that they encountered on their way back to where Cid would pick them up helped clear his head.

In the middle of their walk/swim, Tidus surfaced with a doll-like object. "Its head looks like an onion," he joked. Though, it looked like the water really hadn't affected it as much as it should have—the thing already looked dry, even.

"Maybe it's special, like my Godhand," Rikku guessed. "It looks kinda like what Lulu uses for her magic, right?"

The mage stooped down to take it for examination. "It is a powerful magic channel," she reported, cradling it in her arm as if to test it. "I'm going to keep it."

"And if it's useless, we'll sell it!"

* * *

"So…where to now?" Tidus asked. They were on the airship roof, the most exposed sanctuary in the world.

"I want to go back to Zanarkand," Yuna said. Everyone stared; that was one place that they had silently and mutually agreed to never revisit.

"Why?" Auron asked in spite of himself. He just really, _really_ didn't want to go back there.

"I…I want to remind myself why I'm fighting one more time," she said. They instantly understood. "And after that, I want to go to the Farplane. I would…like to see my family again."

_Family._

Auron flinched, and suddenly he was seeing through the eyes of someone else, staring at a young, brunette girl. She couldn't have been over eight years old, he thought. Her russet eyes were filled with fear that she was trying to suppress.

"What's happening to me?" she asked, sinking to the floor to bury her face in her hands. "What's happening?"

"Elayne?" Auron heard the person he was seeing from say. By the sound of the person's voice, they were a boy at about the same age as the girl—no, Elayne. "Are you hurt? What's wrong?"

She whimpered and curled up into a ball, trying not to cry. "I've been seeing terrible things," she said, her small voice barely above a whisper. "Terrible, terrible things. I saw a man in black robes blow up a city, I saw a blonde girl lying on the ground. She looked like she was sleeping, but she was dead. I _know_ she was dead!"

Where had Auron seen this girl before? He was sure he had. Elayne continued. "I saw a man in a red coat screaming. He was in pain—no, he was dying, I know he was. And every time I see these things I get this really bad headache that makes me beg to no one to let me die soon so the pain can stopstopSTOP!"

She started sobbing. "And every time the pain is over I wake up staring at blood on the ground, and there's blood on my mouth which means it came from me! What's _happening_?!"

He brought the girl into an embrace and let her cry against him. "I…don't know," Auron heard the boy say. "I…"

"Dad says that we're different and he always makes it sound like a good thing. But remember when he said sorry to us for no reason at all? What if us being different is a bad thing? What if something's going to happen to us that's not supposed to happen to normal people?" Her glazed eyes looked up. "Auron, brother, am I going to die?"

* * *

I really do hate to cut off on a cliffhanger, but school starts soon. I have to prepare myself, I suppose.

I'm sorry, but I won't be able to finish the story before school starts, which was my goal.

That's the thing. School starts soon. Starting Monday, expect updates to be further apart than they've ever been. Now that summer's over, I have to take my life back (I know, it sucks, right?) but just because updates don't come as frequently, don't think I've jumped off of a cliff because I hate my teachers or something like that. Heh…anyway, don't think I've discontinued the story, because I haven't. **I have not. That means I am still writing the story.**

Sorry, I had to just make that very clear.

Wish me luck!

-Ari Elisianete


	14. Defying the Laws of Nature

**NOTE**! I am _not_ changing the name, and I can't tell you why just yet. Just bear with me, righto?

Yeelloooo every_body_! Ari is back with another chapter! And since Ari loves to talk in third person and really doesn't feel like writing the usual ramble of an opening author's note, Ari is going to get on with the story! Lyke, yayzorz! (gives high five to self)

…I guess you can call that clapping?

* * *

Auron was standing on a field of flowers, white and yellow ones with wide petals. The sky was almost white; an invisible sun beat warmly—almost painfully—down on his face. It took him a while to realize that the "sun" represented not warmth, but life.

So that was why it surrounded him, burned him, made him flush with pain. The light didn't stop at his skin; it was cutting down into him to see what exposed him for what he really was—his still heart. That was what hurt the most. He looked around for some means of shelter and found only that he wasn't alone. How useless.

It was a girl in her teens by the looks of her, a bit older than Rikku. She had snow white hair that hung a few inches below her shoulders, which was draped in front of her eyes except for some strands that she had tucked behind her right ear, exposing a heavy dog tag earring with words and numbers carved into the metal. Auron thought he could make out the word "experiment" and then a bunch of numbers. She wore a pale kimono dress with red trim, which made her look…angelic.

"It hurts me, too," she said softly. Auron was silent. "But it's hurting you for a different reason than it's hurting me."

She lifted her gaze, causing some of her hair to slide away. It never left her eyes, though.

"But it wants both of us to die."

"Why?" It seemed like a stupid question, but it seemed like his only relevant option. He couldn't just waltz up to her and ask, "Hey, what's your favorite color?" That would be something Rikku might do.

"Because we are both abominations," the girl replied. "But you more than I."

Sensing a question forming from him, she lifted a long red-lacquered fingernail.

"Go to wherever you need to. But go defeat Sin. They'll tell you everything afterwards, when they're protecting you."

The red on her nail acted as a sort of transition; one moment he was staring at it, the next he was staring at—what else?—his blood on the floor of the airship roof.

With his wide-eyed comrades surrounding him.

And no explanation at hand.

…Shoot. In the words of Rikku, this was going to be a toughie.

"Sir Auron!"

"Auron!"

"Old man, hey, you okay?"

He didn't care if he was okay, or at least not at the moment. All he cared about were the words that were bouncing painfully about inside his head.

"_Auron, brother, am I going to die?"_

Brother. _Brother._

A million possibilities ran through his head. The child could have been good friends with him and called him brother because of it, or maybe that was just his nickname with her. Maybe she was just _that_ fond of him. Or maybe…

_Maybe I have a sister that I've completely forgotten,_ Auron dared to suggest.

He felt sick. Sick and ashamed.

In an attempt to redeem himself he tried to delve into his childhood memories; what he pulled out were years worth of blank gaps that spanned months—and one that even struck through an entire year—which held small memories that extended about five minutes for the longest. And even those were fragmented, and only showed times when he was alone.

He felt even _more_ sick. He had forgotten his family.

He had forgotten. Not even the more recent vision of the mysterious white haired girl could compare to how so very _bad_ that was.

Finally acknowledging the fact that blood was on his mouth, he lifted a hand to wipe it away and stood. Everyone fell silent; he must have looked grim. _Good_, he thought. _Let them read me, for once._

He let Yuna scan over him with a new trick she'd recently learned, an ability that enabled her to check for internal wounds and heal them effectively. She appeared surprised at what she found, which was actually to Auron's dismay: nothing.

"So nothing's wrong?" Rikku repeated before gesturing, "Tell that to the red puddle on the floor."

"I—" Yuna started before Auron took a step forward.

"Yuna is right," he said. "I don't doubt her judgment."

Rikku was still pointing to the blood on the floor when she hesitated. "But I—what about…?"

He hadn't meant to put her up against her cousin; regret dominated. Hoo, boy. He could imagine a conversation with Jecht and Braska.

"Tidus loves your daughter," he would say. Jecht would smirk before Braska would smile and say "You love my niece." End of soon-to-be awkward discussion, please.

"If it happens again, you're resting again," Rikku decided.

Ahh, the power of suggestion; Auron held back another coughing fit. "Very well, then."

Her emerald spirals widened at his acceptance, but she quickly corrected herself. After all, she had _awesome_ willpower. "Umm…to Zanarkand, then?" Apparently now she was willing to let it drop, along with all of the others—but why had they calmed down so quickly? Coughing up blood was not of the norm. Tidus grimaced.

"Yeah. To Zanarkand."

* * *

"I _hate_ this place…"

Tidus sure could complain when he wanted to—Auron knew from past (and apparently present) experience.

"It's not my favorite place in the world, either," he growled. "Deal with it."

The boy winced as if struck, and he ignored it. He was too busy monitoring their surroundings with utmost care; he'd even taken the precaution to send out four pyreflies to act as a sort of reconnaissance team. They floated around the group, camouflaged against the other low-hovering spirits. Absolutely _nothing_ was going to get past his notice, now. Why? He'd had a bad, paranoid feeling of impending doom ever since Yuna had announced that she'd wanted to go to Zanarkand. It had only worsened when they'd actually _landed_ there.

Auron tapped into said four pyreflies, reading them like miniature radars. Miniature, complex, topographic radars. They sensed everything from above and below and in between, even letting him see into the ground. The stream of pyreflies above threw him off slightly because of their total and sheer mass, blocking out everything within ten feet of it. Fifty feet average diameter was a_ lot_ of blind space, but he was pretty sure that nothing was going to come dropping down in an attack. His tactician's mind began to plot against such an unlikely occurrence; anything to distract him from trying to remember his family.

Shadows covered the ever-dark city like a blanket with holes, covering up most of the light of the outside world. In the dome it was worse, even if the dome itself was open air. The sky was visible overhead, but any hopes that light might have had at reaching them vanished as they entered; they were thankful that the same ghost of an old man didn't appear to greet them. He probably wouldn't have been too happy with them, anyway.

Rikku kept stealing quick glances at him, quick because he was watching her every time she tried. She would give a little jump and keep walking, leaving him to wonder just how worried she was about him. He rolled his sword on his shoulder uncomfortably. Well he was keeping an eye on her, too, so he had no room to talk.

During their whole walk through the dome, something kept poking at the edges of his "radar," skirting around it as if in caution. He dismissed it as a timid fiend, but kept the incident in his mind for later. Just in case.

Ahh, sweet paranoia.

The visit began to pass even more swiftly than he had expected—or dreaded, rather. He soon found himself staring over the edge of Yunalesca's chamber platform, down into the abyss below. He couldn't help but wonder how long someone would fall if they jumped off.

Faintly he heard Yuna talking to Tidus behind him, talking about family. Great. The others joined in; apparently Wakka and Lulu'd had the same situation, that situation being that their parents had died when they had been in their early teens. And they already knew about Chappu. What about your family, Auron?

Wait…what?

"Yeah, what about your family?" Rikku asked.

He didn't know what to say, so the answer that escaped his throat surprised him.

"_What_ family?"

In this case the answer sufficed quite nicely; to him, it meant "What family? I forgot them all, so they'd probably hate me for it should I ever meet them again." To the others, it meant "What family? They died. All of them."

"How old were you?" Yuna asked softly.

_**You were seven years old.**_

_Bahamut?_ "I was seven," he repeated.

Everyone was silent, probably pitying him for the fact that none of them had lost any family until at least ten (except for Yuna, who had been the same age) while _he_ had lost everyone at such a young age.

_What happened to them?_ he asked the fayth, who said nothing in return. Ugh. Was everyone being mysterious today?

A spec of light in the abyss caught his eye, and he watched as it grew bigger. It was coming closer.

Approaching at an incredibly fast speed was a stream of pyreflies that was about at wide at the one that floated outside the dome, maybe thicker. He could sense all of them; each one was different, none having the same feel. He took a step back as he realized that it was going to skim the edge of the platform, earning confused glances from his comrades. They uttered cries of surprise as the stream burst into view, rocketing high above them in a single fountain that was as thick as the width of the platform itself, roaring on in one chorus.

Eventually it slowed and the spirits parted, floating down to bundle into tight spheres, one massive one and one that seemed a hundred times smaller. Auron had backed up to stand with the others at this point, well out of the way of the gathering.

The smaller sphere began to spread and take the shape of a human. The human began to gain more color and form and detail, and Auron froze. He recognized the person before anyone else did; it was Braska.

He sort of…hung there in the air looking as if he would fall to the floor at any moment, as if being held by someone. Auron knew the memory quite well. Too well. As the bigger sphere mimicked its brother's actions, it took the form of Jecht as the Final Aeon, big and great and mighty. His massive hands were cradling Braska in despair, and it then occurred to the others that Braska was already dead. The summoner began to fade away as even his unmoving body lost the strength to exist among the living, the strength it needed being sapped away by Jecht himself. When the last of him was gone, Jecht clenched his fists and lifted his head to the sky to roar in agony as he began to disappear as well. But unlike Braska, he was going to live.

And soon he was gone, crafted into the unholy armor that was Sin.

Rikku had clamped her hands over her mouth to keep from squealing with despair; Tidus was just balling his fists and biting his tongue while Yuna tightened her grip on her staff. But it was Auron who was affected the most.

He went…numb, in a sense. Numb and still, never blinking once as he lost strength. He brought his sword around so he could hold it instead of balancing it on his shoulder, but it abruptly clattered to the ground. His hand dropped to his side.

"I never…" he began, still speechless. "I never thought that I would have to watch that again."

He suddenly felt a hand in his; he didn't turn toward the Al Bhed. For the first time, he didn't want to look at her at all. He simply wanted to fall to the floor and sleep and never wake up.

"You didn't have to come if you really didn't want to," she said.

"I'm sorry for bringing everyone here," Yuna said—he heard her bow to him from behind. "Had I known that this would happen…"

"No," said Auron, his voice strong again. "You wanted a reminder of why you're fighting, what you're fighting for." He turned his head to the side to look at her, not surprised in the least at the fact that she was wiping away tears. "That is it," he said. "You are fighting for the people who sacrificed themselves and for the people who knew them; you are fighting to break a seemingly never-ending cycle—an exchange of death for happiness. You're fighting so that people can feel that same temporary happiness—forever."

He freed his hand from Rikku's small but faithful grip to stoop down to pick up his sword, hoisting it to his shoulder with ease. "Never forget that," he finished. Yuna looked up, scrubbing away the last of her tears.

"I won't."

* * *

Bahamut stared up at the board at the back of the White Room, reading the information it held over and over again.

Statistics—hundreds of them, and they were all about Auron. His Flashfire level, his predicted Balefire level, his predicted wingspan, everything down to the average thickness of his skin was on that board.

No wonder it took up most of the wall.

"He just asked about his parents," he said to the others, who each raised an eyebrow.

"Did you tell him anything?" asked Mindy.

"No," said Bahamut, "Nothing but the fact that he was seven when they were killed."

"Ohh, studying Auron, are you?"

Ender appeared silently next to the child fayth, a fake sneer on his face. "Bad aeon. Very bad."

"Hello, Ender." The greeting was as empty of expression as the room was devoid of color, but the others' glares were as malicious as Ender was evil. The man grinned.

"Now, now. Be tolerant, little ones. Is that not what Bahamut has ordered you to do?"

They restrained themselves from attacking.

They had to.

"What have you been doing to him?" Bahamut asked.

"Why, absolutely nothing." Ender raised an eyebrow under his hood. "Why?"

"Lies. You've just sent one of your henchmen after Auron and his comrades."

"Ohh, now you're studying me, too? I'm sorry to say that you won't learn much."

"Are you planning to kill him?"

"No, no." Ender snickered. "Just to test him in a very painful way."

"You're going to drive him insane."

"That's a bad thing?"

There was a long pause as Ender chuckled. "Auron is surrounded by darkness. Who will tell him of the sun?"

More silence. "This is going to be entertaining. Do you have any popcorn?"

Bahamut almost scowled, and Ender merely chuckled again and vanished.

* * *

They were about halfway through the dome when Auron picked up…_something_ to his southeast with his handy pyrefly radar. When he reached out to touch whatever it was with his mind, it rebelled, which meant that it was hostile _and_ dead, and this was only supported by the fact that it had the same feel as the creature that he had recently dismissed for a fiend.

It was also heading right for Rikku.

Without thinking, Auron whipped around and launched himself at her, shoving her out of the way of the creature's path just as it shot into view and bared its long teeth, raising claws attached to black hands. He had just enough time to free his other arm and bring his sword up to block the creature's onslaught before time seemed to speed up again and he had trapped its claws.

The others gasped—well, why wouldn't they? The whole charade had happened in a total of three seconds, and the attacker didn't look like a fiend. Resembling a human more than anything, it was almost a black shadow of a man with massive wings on its back, similar to the ones on one-eye fiends, plus it was about four or five times bigger than Auron…on second thought—

There was no time for a second thought. Auron slid to the left as the thing's right hand/claw swiped with blurred speed, having to let go of its claws before turning back to deliver a kick to the fiend's stomach. Air left what they guessed were its lungs with a _whoosh_, and before it got the chance to recover Auron stepped forward and used the momentum to bring his sword around to slash across the thing's long neck. It reacted like Yunalesca had; no blood, but a cry to show that his strike had been dealt. It staggered back, giving Auron some time to adjust.

"Whoa!" Tidus had just drawn his sword. "What is that thing?"

"A fiend, I suppose," Auron replied. "Stay back."

"Why do you have to hog all the fun?"

"I didn't say you couldn't help."

"Huh? But you said 'stay back'!"

"That only means 'don't get in my way, otherwise have at it.'"

"Augh! Same difference."

Auron tried to dodge as it came back with unexpected speed and delivered a punch to his stomach, knocking the air from _his_ lungs. He suffered a few more lightning fast blows to his face and chest before there was an inhuman cry and the creature was blown to the side by a strike from Tidus and Wakka. He felt the stinging on his face disappear by Yuna's doing.

There were explosions as Lulu cast a few Flare spells before resting; Kimahri and Tidus followed up by bringing their weapons down on the creature's exposed wrists. It roared predictably and whipped around to face Auron, who had been the first to strike and was on the "maim first" list because of it. Its arms dragged swiftly around with it, and just as they were about to connect he leaped into the air and its claws swung under him and (unfortunately) out of harm's way, or at least until Auron landed and drove his sword straight through said arm. That earned a satisfying roar as he ran up to the creature and dragged his sword with him, actually slicing the creature's arm in half. Black liquid poured out instead of blood; it seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he'd seen the stuff before—

"That's _oil_!" Rikku cried. "Everyone get out of the way, then cast a fire spell, Lulu!"

Everyone fled from their positions to a safe distance before Lulu did as she was told, sparking the oil with the weakest fire spell she had ever cast. The resulting explosion made all of their ears go numb for a few seconds as they watched the fiend burst into flames, collapsing and shrieking in anger and pain. Eventually the black flesh burned away (with no scent, thankfully).

Through the smoke Auron noticed a body—could the thing still possibly be alive? But no, this one was smaller than the original.

Or maybe its first appearance wasn't the original at all.

The smoke floated away and mixed with the dust in the air, revealing the body to be an averagely dressed man, unconscious. No, dead. He had something in his hand, but what Auron noticed first was the large dog tag earring he wore. He walked over, avoiding what leftover oil there was left, and squatted to lift the earring for a closer look.

EXPERIMENT:

F25W1790

Male U.

_Experiment._ It was like the earring that the white-haired girl had worn; the word hung in his mind.

"Yuna," he called, stepping back. "Send him."

As their summoner began the graceful dance of a sending, Auron backed away as far as he could as to not have to struggle against her will and his own at the same time. As always, he began to feel a pull as the sending reached him, but at such a distance it was easy to resist. Still, he endured the uncomfortable sensation until the ritual was finally over. He shook his head as the feeling vanished, stepping back over.

"Hey, look what he left behind," Tidus said, presenting yet another crest. This one said "The Sun."

"At least we were rewarded," Lulu said, of all people.

"Let's go," Auron said. Wow—two words and everyone turned to stare at him. At least they obeyed.

And in the shadows of a broken structure, Ender watched as they left the dome and their precious airship collected them.

"No Flashfire usage _and_ no popcorn?" he asked himself. "Today is not my day." He vanished again, taking refuge in deeper shadows.

* * *

"Are we going to the Farplane next?" Tidus asked. Yuna gave a small nod.

"That was the plan, unless anyone—"

"I'm coming," Auron said. "I just won't go in."

"Same here, I guess," Rikku agreed. "Pops, take us to Guadosalam!"

Cid nodded, giving a small salute out of habit before turning to head back to the control room. "You got it!"

Auron turned to look out of the window at the clouds that they were skimming through; it was like a ship sailing over a fluffy mass of water. Very strange—he felt a tinge of amusement at how he had actually stopped to notice that.

If he could actually make himself stay, then he would treasure that ability.

* * *

"Why are you in Guadosalam? What business have you here?"

_My, what a polite, friendly greeting_.

"You wanna start something?"

_What a courteous, respectful reply. Well done, Tidus._

Tromell showed no sign that he had taken any real offense. "If it would please you to harm a defenseless old man...then burn me, boil me, it matters not. Lord Seymour is gone. No lord rises to take his place. The Guado merely wait for Sin to come and finish us off."

"Well _someone's_ Mr. Happy-Smiley," Rikku muttered. Auron had to smile at that—Tromell of all people had stolen his title.

"Why should I care what you do to me?" the new Mr. Happy-Smiley continued. "If it meant rejoining Lord Jyscal and Lord Seymour, then your taking off my head would be the greatest kindness."

The Guado strode off, his long legs carrying him away quickly to leave the party a bit disturbed.

"Well, let's go where we came here for," Tidus said, leading the way.

* * *

The shimmering blue portal loomed overhead at an angle, giving Auron the impression that at any moment it would fall and swallow up anyone in the room. He stopped about halfway up the treelike stairs, and so did the others.

"Not coming?" Tidus asked.

"Never have been to the Farplane before," Auron said. "I plan to go there when I plan to stay."

Rikku gave him a weird look. "Oh, come on! These are only, like, the outskirts of the Farplane. If you go in there, you won't actually be _going_ there." She suddenly grabbed his hand and jerked, catching him off guard and making him stumble forward.

"Rikku—!"

"You're not gonna go in, are you?" She asked.

"If I go to the Farplane now, I may not be able to leave," Auron said.

Rikku seriously hesitated before she began to tug on his arm again. "Come on! If you go, I'll go!" She smiled. "We'll go together!"

His jaw almost dropped—everyone else's did. They knew how much _not_ going to the Farplane meant to her.

"Rikku," he sternly began, "I'm not ready to leave yet. I don't want to take the risk, understand?"

Her shoulders sank in defeat and she dropped his hand—but just as he thought that she was going to leave him alone, she went to his side and hooked her arm around his.

"We won't let you leave. Because you're not _allowed_ to leave yet—" she beamed up at him— "got it?"

The others turned and walked through the portal, leaving them alone. She stepped forward and took his hand again, and this time he allowed himself to be dragged forward. She stayed one step ahead of him until they reached the portal, and she glanced up at him before stepping through.

And he followed.

* * *

He froze as soon as he stepped out into the open; he heard Rikku gasp in delight next to him. But that was it. He _heard_ her.

"Rikku," he said softly, "I lost my vision when I stepped through."

"Huh?" he heard her say, her grip on his hand tightening. "You can't see at all?" He grunted.

"Maybe I'm not supposed to see this place until I'm actually ready to stay here," he said.

"That would make sense," said Tidus off to his left.

"Oh well." Rikku pulled him forward; he had no choice but to follow. "I'll guide you."

The amount of time that they walked seemed extended due to his temporary blindness. He heard a soft roar far below, and he guessed that it was water. Hearing stone under his step, he formed an image in his mind that they were on a platform high above a river or a body of water in general. If they were on a platform, then he would have to be careful.

But how was he in here at all? he kept asking himself. This was impossible—he was defying the laws of nature…he thought. Dead people were supposed to be here to stay. Would he be able to go back through the portal?

"Wow!" Rikku cried, rushing forward and dragging him with her before stopping abruptly.

"What?"

"Just…this place!" she said, her hand changing angles. "It's so _cool_!"

He realized that she had sat down most likely at the edge of the platform he was imagining and took a seat next to her, releasing her hand but positioning himself so that their knees were touching—just to know she was there. "Describe it to me."

"Huh? Oh, okay. Ummm…" he could picture her scanning over their surroundings with wide eyes. "Well, first of all we're on a big platform high above the real Farplane…I think. Down there there's an oval-y canyon that's pretty much just one big waterfall, and there's a bunch of flowers on the ground—so many that you can't even _see_ the ground. There's a _lot_ of pyreflies. And…further away there's a _huge_ lake and above that is, like, this big blue moon that looks like it's being held in the air by this black smoke coming from the very middle of the lake."

She paused as he formed the image in his mind. "Are you going to call anyone?" Auron asked.

"No," she said. "Just because I came in doesn't mean I have to see anyone."

"I see."

There was a long silence before she sighed. "I'm glad."

"For?"

"I'm glad that this is the place you're going to go—if you leave, that is."

Oh. He didn't know what to say to that. Fortunately he didn't have to reply when she took his hand again and lifted it to her face, placing his fingers over her lips.

She was smiling.

* * *

It was always the quiet of the White Room that bothered Ender; the quiet here, in his home, surrounded him and…comforted him. His dark robes trailed over the black alchemic symbol on the marble floor as he glanced up. Seven massive portraits hung on all four walls of the prized entrance to his home—in each portrait there was a person staring blankly ahead at the viewer, looking almost dead. One of those portraits was of Ender himself without his hood—he avoided looking at that one—another of Mazrim, the one who had actually had the gall to _imprison_ him. Of course, he'd gone mad afterward and the seven Farplane lords had sealed him away in a prison of his own, so Ender considered them even. Especially because poor Mazrim's prison sentence was forever.

Ender avoided that one, too.

Those two paintings were on the wall with the double door exit; there were four more total on the walls to the left and right, all of the powerful men that he had once known and used as pawns. But the largest and most important one was on the wall above his split staircase, facing across from the portrait of himself. It was blank. And yet Ender stared at it in wait. Something would appear there, he knew it.

It was only a matter of time.

Just as that thought brought itself into his mind, a small line began to appear on the canvas. It began to move swiftly, drawing a face and immediately filling in the details. Ender's grin widened as paint abruptly spread across the image, completing the portrait in its entirety.

Auron stared forward blankly, as if unconscious with his eyes open.

"And now there are seven of us," Ender said, triumphant laughter bursting forward as a raging fire swept through his body and those of the five others—wherever they might have been—alerting all of them that the seventh had been born. For a split second he sensed those five other minds, sensed the excruciating pain that Mazrim was suffering—_he_ was suffering the most pain from this new piece of knowledge.

And as the fire began to die, Ender laughed harder.

* * *

Augh. Another cliffhanger…sorry.

I'll work on this next weekend—that's the only time I _can_ work on it. School is getting to be tedious, but it's all worth it in the end, yes?

Oh, I almost forgot.

Random Auron image of the _chapter_: Picture Auron running around in circles with pants on his head yelling, "Flannel! FLANNEL!!"

…Don't ask.

-Ari Elisianete


	15. What It Means To Be Dead

Holy carpal tunnel, Batman! I'm back! Sorry for the two week wait, everyone.

I have nothing much to say, so I won't waste your time.

* * *

"We're going to be here for a while," Rikku said.

"What are the others doing?" asked Auron, and she scanned the platform.

"Well," she began, "Yunie's looking at Braska and her mom, Tidus is looking at his mom, Wakka and Lulu have Chappu, and Kimahri is kind of off to the side."

Auron was silent and she suddenly decided to lean against his arm. When he shifted, for a moment she mistook it for discomfort when he was actually making _her_ more comfortable. No blushing. _No_ blushing. Even if he couldn't see her.

They stayed like that for a while, and Rikku began to notice something as time slid by: Auron seemed like he was waiting for something again. His head was bowed and his eye closed; he was like a peace incarnate, waiting patiently.

"Augh," she moaned. "I want to go kick Sin's butt already so we can get it over with, you know?"

"I know."

He just looked so _peaceful_, almost like he wasn't real. Was he? Fear suddenly gripped her heart as she began to worry that she had made a terrible mistake by dragging him in here. What if he wouldn't be able to leave, like he said? What if he _could_ leave, but he was blind forever? It would be all her fault.

She hooked her arm around his and squeezed, trying to force her what-iffy thoughts away.

"Are you alright?"

She looked up. "Huh? Yeah, why?"

"It seemed like you were trying to cut off my circulation," Auron said. "Like you were afraid of something."

Gosh. The man could read her even when blinded. "Nah," she said.

"Then would you mind explaining why you're clinging to my arm?"

She removed her arms completely and rested her head on his forearm. _I'm afraid of you leaving,_ she thought for the fiftieth-odd time. Auron seemed to confirm something in the confines of his mind.

"I see."

Her eyes widened. "You can't read my _mind_, can you?"

He chuckled, "Of course not."

All of a sudden he freed his other arm and swiped it behind him. Tidus yelped at the fact that he had just been smacked none too lightly across the forehead and jumped back a few feet, eyes wide.

"Aww, man," he cried. "I was gonna try to scare you!"

Auron didn't even attempt to look over his shoulder. "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean that I'm blind to the world. I could hear your clumsy footsteps a mile away."

Rikku turned to grin at the other blonde, who was rubbing his flushed forehead. "Anyway, we're leaving," he said.

Auron stood and helped Rikku up. Faintly Rikku heard Lulu and Yuna conversing off to the side—Lulu had a concerned tone to her voice. They stepped back through the portal, leaving the two women behind.

* * *

Just a note; after having no vision for more than thirty minutes, light hurts. A lot. As Auron stepped through he kept his eye closed so it wouldn't overwhelm him, but as soon as he opened it his pupil shrank to the size of a pin and his hand flew to shield him.

"Well, I can see again," he said through his teeth, his eye aching unbearably. He tried to keep it open so it would adjust faster; by the time it had, Lulu and Yuna emerged from the blue barrier. Lulu's expression was very grave, and she walked briskly over to Wakka to whisper something in his ear. His eyes widened before he assumed the same expression and nodded once. They faced the group.

"We have somewhere we wish to go," Lulu announced, "The Cavern of the Stolen Fayth."

"Where's that?" asked Tidus.

"It's in the Calm Lands." Wakka rubbed the back of his neck. "The summoner that Lu guarded on her first pilgrimage, Lady Ginnem…died there, ya? But she's not in the Farplane."

The group exchanged glances, thinking the same thing: "Let's go."

* * *

"Okay…so why's it called the 'Cavern of the Stolen Fayth?'" Tidus asked, running his finger along one of the strange designs on the wall of the control room.

"They say it was stolen from a temple a long time ago," Lulu said.

"Huh?"

"With no fayth, summoners cannot train," Auron explained. "Without training, they cannot call the Final Aeon; without the Final Aeon, they cannot defeat Sin. That is why."

Rikku nodded. "'Cause then the summoner won't die!"

"That must be what the thief was thinking," Wakka said.

"I kind of agree with him," Tidus mumbled.

Auron fell silent, but Rikku could almost see the gears in his head meshing and spinning like crazy. What was he thinking? Sometimes she thought that life would be _so_ much easier if she could read his mind. Ehh. Reading his mind would make the theft of his thoughts too easy, and stealing from this guy the hard way was a welcome challenge.

"Watcha thinking about?"

"Lady Ginnem." He remained expressionless. "She's an Unsent, now. She has to be. When we arrive, I'll keep watch for her so I can tell if she's hostile."

"Why would she be hostile?" Lulu asked. "And how can you tell?"

"Unsents can sense each other if we try," Auron said. "And if she retaliates from the touch of my mind, then she's ready to put up a fight."

He grunted. "There's probably no human left in her, anymore. She might have gone insane."

"Hey!" Wakka raised his fist. "Lady Ginnem wouldn't go crazy, ya? She's too smart to!"

When Auron's piercing eye locked on him, he stiffened. "It's easy to lose your sanity for a while. It can happen to any of us." And by "us" he must have meant Unsents, Rikku decided. "The mind is incredibly unstable when the victim doesn't have any contact with humans in the first few stages; therefore, they can lose their own humanity. Tell me—how long did you stay with her corpse until you finally accepted the fact that she was dead?"

Lulu tried not to look away, but Auron saw the slightest twitch of her head and knew the answer. "You left as soon as it was confirmed, did you not?" It was more of a statement than a question, and Auron saw how flustered Wakka was about to get and decided to drop it. "Nevermind. The truth will be revealed when we actually get there."

Wakka growled and crossed his arms, turning away. For a moment Auron showed a hint of regret before he faded back into his own world.

* * *

"WHAT IS THIS?"

Ender roared with pain, writhing on the alchemic symbol on his floor. It was Mazrim's turn to laugh now; suddenly the heathen had figured out how to exchange his pain with Ender's pleasure. And it _hurt_.

His screams echoed about the walls of his empty home and Mazrim's low laughter rattled inside his head. Ender was sure that any moment he was going to die, crushed under the man's sheer power. He burned and expected to see fire raging around him, but it just wasn't happening. He was rotting from the inside out with agony. Yes, at any moment he would die. He was going to die.

The last thing he remembered before darkness came was seeing his silvery-red blood pour from the corner of his mouth and drip to the floor—that and his former self staring blankly, mockingly at him in the form of a painting. He wouldn't kill Auron, he promised. He would merely come close, close enough to make him _wish_ he was dead.

And all he had to do was survive until these restrictions disappeared.

_Hear that, Mazrim?_

The laughter stopped.

* * *

"Sooooo, the fayth was stolen a long time ago, right?"

"That's right," Yuna said, stepping over a hazardous trip-worthy rock as she headed with the others down the slanted path into the cave.

"She's here," Auron said abruptly.

"Are you sure?" asked Lulu.

"I'm sure."

"Well, is she okay?" Rikku asked. As expected, Auron said nothing and advanced further into the cave. She glared at his back, resisting the urge to stick out her tongue. _Well fine, be steeeeeewpid. See if I care._

…_Nyah._

The tunnels were long and dark, allowing two women to walk beside each other if they stayed together. Knowing that Auron was right behind her seemed a little creepy when she got down to the fact that he could see in the dark. How _could_ he do that, anyway? Must have been an Unsent thing. She was thankful that he steered her away from the walls, though. Touching one of the walls and feeling something she couldn't identify would only make her jump and hit her head on the ceiling ten feet above, and then she would fall flat on her face to lay there unconscious. Auron would not be a happy panda then.

She saw a light up ahead and restrained herself from rushing toward it. It turned out to be coming from softly glowing crystals of many colors scattered about the walls; she could just make out another tunnel to the right.

"She's at the back of the cave," Auron answered the unspoken question. "We move forward."

The tunnels grew even narrower, even to one extent that the men had to hug the walls to pass through. They came across several dead ends, and Tidus actually ran into the wall once when Auron didn't bother to inform him that he was about to do so. Rikku must have laughed so hard that she'd snorted at the image of the blonde falling to the floor looking like a bobble head doll on the way.

"Hey, what's that smoke coming out of the walls?" Wakka asked at another wide dome.

"Acid," Auron said simply. "Breathe that in and you can say goodbye to your lungs."

Okay…they stayed away from the walls. Especially Tidus.

* * *

Bahamut blinked. Blanks that had filled the board were suddenly being filled by numbers and information, some replacing predictions that the fayth had made themselves. His expression tightened as he began to expect Ender popping in at any moment to laugh in his face at this fact, since such an occurrence meant that something far greater had just taken place.

But Ender did not come.

"He's out cold," said Yojimbo, stopping at the child's side to stare at the board and twirl a gold coin ostentatiously in one hand. "Thanks to Mazrim."

"Mazrim?"

"It seems that he can reach outside the borders of his prison—within a limit, of course—now that Auron's woken up."

"And we both know why that is."

There was a long silence that was pierced constantly by the soft screech of numbers and letters etching themselves into the board.

"I wonder if he's still insane," Bahamut said, and Yojimbo shrugged, tossing the coin into the air and catching a card instead when it fell back.

"Who knows?" he said. "No one is allowed inside his prison, not even the seven lords. As far as we know, only one person, the same person who locked it, knows how to _unlock_ it. And it certainly isn't Auron, if it would be anyone."

"Is it not?"

"It can't be. The person who sealed him away was around even before when Yu Yevon was born. Auron was not."

Bahamut sighed. "I see. Do we know anything of the lock itself?"

"Not much." Yojimbo stopped spinning the card to press the sharp edge of it to his lip. "But I believe that it's based on a song. Not the Hymn, of course. That would be too obvious. And even though I don't know what the song is, it's the instrument used to play this song that interests me. It's a very old one."

"What is it?"

Yojimbo smiled and slipped the gambler's card into his sleeve. "A piano."

* * *

"It is…it's you, is it not, Lady Ginnem?"

Lulu walked slowly to the front of the group to face the formerly living summoner. Her eyes traveled to the ground. "Forgive me," she said. "I…was too young."

Auron glanced at Yuna and stepped back; their summoner raised her staff in concentration and he winced. Rikku's eyes narrowed as she looked into the Unsent summoner's eyes, which were blank and seemingly one dark color. They stared forward at the other summoner with a look as unreadable as Auron's normal expression was, and Rikku suddenly found that frustrating.

Ginnem raised her hand and Yuna stopped cold as a ripple of angry energy shot through all of them, shaking them to the core and making none of them feel whole until the sensation had passed. Tidus's eyes widened.

"Whoa," he said quietly, turning to Auron. "Can you do that?"

The warrior gave him an annoyed expression. "Yes."

"There's no human left in you now, is there?" said Lulu, hesitating. "Very well, then. Allow me to perform my last duty to you. My last as your guardian."

Ginnem's eyes flooded with hate and she raised her hands.

"She's summoning," Yuna said. "Be careful!"

The light dimmed in the cave as if sucked away, and a beam of moonlight shone down at the floor before Ginnem. Cherry blossom petals flew across the light from nowhere and swirled inside of it, forming a wide figure. After every hole and blank space had been filled, the petals glowed brightly before the aeon was revealed.

It was heavily armored and wore robes under its protection, with a metal mask concealing its face. A large sword hung at its side; a dog appeared as well, growling.

The crew drew their weapons and prepared themselves for a fight that started as soon as Ginnem raised her hand again. The aeon pulled three kunai knives from its sleeve and threw them with such accuracy that each one hit their mark; one buried itself in Auron's shoulder, one skimmed Rikku's arm and made a gash before clanking against the wall, and one did the same to Wakka though more deeply. With a grimace Auron jerked the knife from his shoulder and tossed it away, bringing up his guard to charge.

Rikku felt her warm blood began to trickle down her arm as she shot forward and attempted to land a clawed punch on the aeon's supposedly exposed forearm. She only collided with metal that sent a jolt down her body, and she had no time to recover before it slammed into her stomach and sent her flying. She heard a few explosions behind her courtesy of Lulu, and there was a streak of red as she was caught on her way to the ground. Auron barely looked at her for more than a second before letting her stand on her own and rejoining the battle.

Lulu began to try thunder spells, probably thinking that the metal would react. Rikku didn't jump or squeal each time a spell was cast, but this was because she knew exactly when each bolt was coming. Natural thunder and lightning was so haphazard…

The aeon doubled over as a bolt struck the flat hat in its head, sending shocks through all of the armor it wore. It reached to its side and drew its sword, the shriek of metal against metal sending chills down their spines. With blinding speed it lashed out at the group, giving them barely any time to dodge or block—the only one who had to actually block was Auron, who had to bring his sword completely vertical and put his hand halfway down the weapon to resist the force of the blow. The aeon, having expecting his opponent to be beheaded, drew back and lost its guard for the slightest moment, giving Auron the chance to rush forward and drive his sword through the crack in its armor that Rikku noticed for the first time. It split and the aeon roared, stepping back.

Wait, where was the dog? Rikku frantically looked around for the beast just as it began to charge at her from behind; she merely turned around and drove her clawed fist into its face. It flew back with a yelp where Tidus impaled it with his hooked sword, allowing them to turn their attention back to the aeon.

After that blow from Auron it wasn't doing too well; it had a hand on one knee to keep from falling and was drawing and throwing kunai in desperation. It was getting clumsy, however. It couldn't fight for much longer.

Ginnem swung her hand and the aeon began to fade away, dismissed by its master. She raised her hands, and they realized that she was getting ready to summon yet again.

Lulu cast a light water spell at her former summoner, disrupting the ritual and causing Ginnem to turn toward her with rage. She sent out another ripple of energy, making a slight wind. But suddenly it was almost literally crushed by a bigger wave, a _tsunami_ compared to Ginnem's pinprick of an attack. She stared at Auron with malice filling her eyes, crying out and falling to her knees when the aftereffects reached her. The others tried not to do the same; it felt as though their hearts had been placed on one side of the cavern, their minds on another, and their stomachs on the other side of the world. Ginnem staggered to a stand seconds later and attempted to summon yet again.

"Enough," Auron barked, and another wave of invisible energy passed over and left them all very lightheaded. Rikku fell to her knees. "This fight is over."

Ginnem stood up straight, staying perfectly still with her hands by her sides. There was a long pause before anyone was able to speak again.

"What…what did you do?" Lulu asked the warrior, who ignored her and asked in return, "Do you wish to speak with her one last time?"

The mage seemed surprised at the offer, but nodded. Auron drove his sword into the ground and walked over to Lady Ginnem, who stiffened. Standing at her side and turning to face the group, Auron put his hand on her shoulder and bowed his head.

Ginnem seemed to calm herself, and her eyes changed from a hateful black to their original cerulean. Her shoulders slumped in relaxation, and she smiled at her former guardian. At the same time Auron's entire body seemed to tense and his left hand balled into a fist and began to shake ever so slightly.

"Lulu?" asked Lady Ginnem. Lulu's startled expression prevented her from doing anything but smiling.

"It is me, Lady Ginnem," she said after a moment, then, "I apologize for letting you die that day. Had I been older, maybe I could have…I…"

She seemed at a loss for words, and Ginnem smiled warmly. "It is alright," she said. "There was nothing you could have done." She looked up at Auron. "This man…you must thank him for me. Without his help I wouldn't be able to talk to you one last time."

Lulu nodded. "Of course. But what exactly is he doing?"

"He's lending me his humanity."

Such a simple answer; but as soon as she said "human" Auron's eye snapped open to stare at his comrades with the same expression that Ginnem had once wore. Coming from a stranger it didn't bother them much, but coming from someone they knew, that look of hatred frightened them.

"You've changed," Ginnem said. "I can tell—you've grown stronger."

"Thank you."

There was a long pause before Ginnem spoke again. "It's about time that I was sent, isn't it?"

Lulu nodded hesitantly. "Yes," she agreed. "It is time."

Ginnem reached up and lifted Auron's hand from her shoulder and let it drop; he changed back to normal Auron-mode almost immediately, walking away from the summoner as Yuna stepped forward and raised her staff. He leaned against the wall, breathing deeply.

"You okay?" Rikku asked.

"Fine."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, and his expression softened. "You really need to start believing me when I say that I'm alright."

She couldn't help but smile before turning back to watch her cousin dance in sending, and she saw the last of Lady Ginnem fade away. Lulu gazed toward the ground.

"Strange," she said. "I thought that it would be…sadder somehow. Maybe I've gotten used to farewells."

"It's just like Lady Ginnem said." Wakka came to her side and put his hand on her shoulder. "You've gotten stronger, ya?"

"Wakka, I hope you're right." Then, as if just remembering something, she turned to Yuna.

"The fayth is inside," she said, gesturing to a small opening ahead. "Yuna, go do what you came to do."

* * *

"I am the blade of vengeance. They dare only whisper my name: Yojimbo."

Yet another cavern they had entered, though this one small enough to fit the party and a fayth crystal in the ground. A fayth, Yojimbo, dressed as what seemed like a crusader stood half-transparently before them. "Summoner, I ask you. What do you want of me?"

Yuna didn't hesitate at all. "To train as a summoner."

"If you desire my strength, you must pay my price," said Yojimbo. "Make your offer."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"My starting price is three hundred thousand gil."

Everyone's jaws dropped. "Are you _serious_?" Tidus gaped.

"Have you enough?"

"Uhh…how about ten thousand?"

"I'll take that as a no." Yojimbo sighed. "No deal. Maybe next time."

Auron chuckled softly, and Yojimbo turned to look at him.

"Sir Auron," he said, "Long time, no see."

"Yeah."

_He must have meant he hadn't seen him since Braska's pilgrimage,_ Rikku thought.

A coin suddenly appeared in the aeon's hand. "Oh, that's right," he said. "Today's your special day, isn't it?"

Rikku's eyes widened to the size of blitzballs; Auron froze.

"On second thought, I will lend you my strength, summoner. Think of it as a gift."

As Yojimbo began to fade away, he gave Auron one last look. "Auron," he said slowly, "be careful."

Gone.

Rikku exploded, jumping up and down several times. "What'd he mean by your 'special day,' huh? Is it your birthday today?"

Auron grunted and headed toward the cave exit. They all followed. "Drop it."

"But we should have a party or something! With presents and cake and—"

"_Drop it_."

"Come on, old man," Tidus said. "Birthdays are days that you should have parties on."

"Enough," Auron said after they had reached another , stopping to face them.

"But _Auron_!" Rikku even managed to stretch the name out into three syllables.

"Today is not a day to be celebrated," Auron said gravely.

"Well, what _is_ today, then?"

"Certainly not my birthday. In fact, it's quite the opposite."

It was then that it hit them; today was not Auron's birthday, but the day that he'd died. Rikku fell completely silent.

That is, until something shiny caught her eye. She saw a crystal attached to the wall of one of the domes that glowed brighter than any other when, in fact, it was a clear crystal merely absorbing the light.

"We could sell that," Rikku said, greed winning over and erasing her previous excitement, "for a _lot_." Yuna put her finger on her cheek.

"Well, we are a little short on money, as Yojimbo pointed out," she said quietly.

"Say no more!" Rikku sprang forward and yanked her prize from the stone; something clicked on the wall to her right.

"Move!" There was a streak of red as Auron dived in front of her for the fiftieth-odd time, taking the trap's wrath at full force—of course, all he had to do was lift his fist to block a huge boulder that hurtled from the wall. But still, why did he have to do that?

"Yojimbo is an aeon that prefers masters of pure heart and mind," Auron said, brushing the dust off of his hand. "He must have had one of his previous summoners set this up to weed out the _greedy_ ones."

He turned around. "Rikku, are you so eager to die that you would step right into such an obvious trap?" he asked angrily.

Before she had a hold on her response she blurted out an unconsidered answer. "Well, if I died I would probably just become an Unsent, right? And life would be _real_ easy, then."

The others gaped, and Rikku began to get more and more angry, rage boiling up from nowhere. Why did this idiot have to keep diving in front of her to take every single hit? Was it because he was already dead and he thought she was weak, that she couldn't take it? And did he always have to hide everything, like his birthday and deathday? _Why did he have to leave?_

"I cannot believe you just said that," Auron muttered incredulously, shaking his head.

"Well it would, wouldn't it?" she snapped, her voice rising as she rode on her rage, going with the fiery flow. "All you have to do is walk around and pretend like you're still alive; it can't be that hard, you make it look so easy. In fact, I'll bet you could roll over and play dead like a dog, like the filthy animal that you turned out to be!" She suddenly realized that she was shouting, but made no move to correct herself. "If all Unsents end up like you, then no wonder no one wants to die!"

She was glaring at the ground, then, but she didn't need to look over at the others. Their jaws had all dropped. But she was still mad. Why did he have to be such a big, stupid meanie? He could get her hopes up in an instant and then crush them, and he could say something so depressing that she felt the effects. He was a mean, manipulative _freak_!

"Ouch," Tidus whispered.

"Where did that come from?" asked Wakka, not expecting an answer.

Rikku looked up to see what effect her rant had had on him, but instantly the flow of anger came to an abrupt and complete stop. He actually _looked_ hurt; hurt with a dash of confusion. That was a first, but a first that she didn't want to see. Guilt began to replace her sea of rage, and what made it worse was the fact that he wasn't saying anything. For a moment she would have given anything to break the silence that was now beginning to crush her ears. She had just made the world explode, but this time Auron would not be fine the next day.

Still muted, Auron stepped around her and continued to head for the cave's exit, his footsteps barely making a sound. She tried to follow him, but staggered and stopped, her legs weak. "Hey, I didn't mean that! I was angry, you know? I don't know why, but…umm…I didn't mean it, okay?"

He completely ignored her, continuing to walk. The others began to trail behind, each giving her a look of scorn and/or question as they passed. Tidus even had the nerve to say, "Wow. I'd better not get on your bad side." Rikku realized that she was still holding her prized crystal.

Without a word, she let it drop to the floor and trudged after, staying at the back of the group.

* * *

Auron didn't say anything for the whole walk, ignoring Rikku's constant pleas for forgiveness. Even when they stepped out into the light and crossed the bridge to the Calm Lands (which they had decided to visit when Tidus had tried to change the subject, asking if he could train a chocobo since he hadn't in the Highroad), all he did was kept walking.

"Please, Sir Auron," Yuna said, "I'm sure Rikku didn't really mean what she said."

"Yeah, swallow your pride and get over it!" Tidus ordered.

Auron turned around, and for the first time in an hour he spoke. "Fine," he said, pointing at the sun, which was about three-fourths of the way to the ground. They must have slept longer than they'd thought at Baaj Temple. "When the sun touches the ground at sunset tonight, I will show you why every word she spoke was true."

"…Huh?"

Auron assumed a grim expression and kept walking. "You'll see."

The Calm Lands was a vast place; it took them almost forty-five minutes of trekking across the wide field to reach the small Al Bhed trading center.

Tidus immediately rushed off and asked to train a chocobo. From a distance, they watched as he struggled to get on, falling to the ground several times. On his second to last try, he actually got on but fell over on the other side. They heard his frustrated moans and the chocobo's squeaks of amusement even from their post.

But he was finally on, and he talked to the trainer for a minute or two before she raced off some hundred or two yards away, getting off and walking over to a machina to push a few buttons. The thing whirred to life, aiming what looked like a wide gun at Tidus. His eyes widened.

"Don't' worry," yelled the trainer from across the field, "It only fires blitzballs."

He relaxed a little, and Rikku snickered. She had a feeling that she was going to enjoy this. And she did when the first blitzball buried itself in his face. His goal was apparently to get from the start to the finish in a certain amount of time.

But Rikku couldn't pay attention; she kept glancing back at Auron, who had an air of anticipation about him that was beginning to seep into her.

After countless tries and many bruises, Tidus was able to make it through the trial three consecutive times within the time limit _and_ without getting hit. Of course, his face looked like something that a cat had walked up to, eaten, decided that it tasted terrible, and spat out again. Yuna soon fixed that. The trainer then challenged him to a race with a prize to him if he won. "No one has ever been good enough to race me," she'd said. Tidus being Tidus, he accepted.

Yuna fired the starting gun, and the two shot from the starting line. Rikku turned away from the race for a moment to glance at Auron, who was staring at his gloved hand. He still smelled like mild fear; she tried not to let it penetrate her still-guilty mind.

The trainer was ahead, but only by a little. She began to cheer for Tidus, and Wakka and Yuna soon followed. The trainer took a hard left as part of the course and Tidus was on the inside of the turn, allowing him to gain the lead. He then crouched low, leaning against the chocobo's neck and willing it to go faster. Staying on the inside of the course, he hauled it back to the start with ease, wrapping up the race quite nicely.

The trainer accepted defeat gracefully, and Yuna had to remind Tidus not to be a sore winner. Producing her prize, the trainer returned with a blue hookblade…though it was a little dusty.

"I found it near the cliffs on the other side of the plains," she explained. "I have no use for it, so it makes for a good prize for a guardian." She saluted. "Thank you for the good race. I'll see you again."

She rode off, and Tidus took the sword and held it up to the sun, which was drawing low at this time. It would only be an hour or so until sunset.

"Hey, look at this," he said, holding the sword flat. There was a recess in the sword similar to Rikku's Godhand, but there was already something there; the other piece of the crest that they'd found. Tidus pulled out the Sun crest, fitting it into its rightful place. The sword reacted the same way; flash of light, gust of wind, and then normalcy. The two pieces had merged with the weapon and the writing on the symbol had changed to "Caladbolg."

"Cool!" Tidus cried.

Auron, who was sitting on the ground leaning against the natural wall of the trading center, sighed. "Kimahri," he said, "You know what to do if I come after anyone…right?"

The Ronso nodded. "Kimahri knows."

"Good, good."

Fear rose. "What do you mean?" Rikku asked. "What's Kimahri gonna do? And why would you go after anyone?"

The others stopped admiring Tidus's new weapon and waited for an explanation. Auron glanced at the sun again—it seemed like it was noticeably going lower and lower with each passing second.

"Every year on the day that they died, Unsents make a transformation into what they first were right after they lost their life. I am no exception."

"Wait…" Tidus scratched his head, confusion settling in. "So…you're going to turn younger again?"

Auron shook his head and undid the clip that held his glove in place. It slipped away to reveal his right hand, blackened as if burned and not completely healed. His fingernails were gone, so it really didn't resemble his hand anymore. He flexed his fingers, and claws shot from their tips. Rikku covered her gape with both hands.

"Every year we return to the first stage of death; a monster that is filled with rage and hatred for the living, and will stop at nothing to kill. I almost killed Kimahri when I turned into this," he said. "I made him promise that if I ever saw him again and I was in the same situation, if I went after any living being he would try to stop me with any means possible."

He paused. "Remember that fiend that we encountered in Zanarkand? That was not a fiend that possessed a human—it was quite literally a baby Unsent."

"And that's what you're going to turn into?"

"Yeah. I can feel it spreading up my arm." He closed his eye and let his hand drop. "That's why what Rikku said is true. Unsents are nothing but a race of filthy animals that are forced to follow their bloodthirsty instincts.

"After it reaches my back, I'll be able to fly. Hopefully I can get away from you all before it gets to my head."

"And what if you can't?" Yuna asked.

"I think that if Kimahri tells me to stand down, then I probably will. Otherwise…" He waved his hand, allowing the others to finish the thought for him. He suddenly winced drastically. "Speak of the devil," he said, standing up and undoing his belt to shrug off his jacket and pull off his leather armor. Rikku blushed furiously at the sight of his bare chest—can you say "perfectly sculpted muscles?" She sure could.

The blackness had spread up his arm and was working its way across his back. He drew a sharp breath, and in the span of two seconds massive wings sprouted and unfurled, flaunting their size. He must have had a twenty foot wingspan, by rough guess; the wings were exactly like the ones that the other creature—err, Unsent—had possessed.

"Whoa," Rikku said in awe.

"I'm going," Auron said abruptly. "This will last a few hours, so don't expect my immediate return."

Without waiting for an answer he leaped into the air and his wings pushed down, carrying him higher. Within seconds he had disappeared behind a low-riding cloud.

"Well…that came on fast," Wakka said.

"I guess we just gotta wait, you know?" Rikku took a seat, preparing to do exactly that.

* * *

All was silent. All silent except for the echo of the hypnotic notes of a piano, producing a soft melody that Mazrim knew well. He played with his heart—his heart was all he had left—calling to the other side for a savior to come take him from this prison so he could see the real world again. How long had it been since he'd seen a human face, much less the face of the woman he loved and longed to touch again? His fingers trailed over the keys to the copy of the instrument that locked his prison tight, and for a moment he thought he could sense the one on the other side, the real one in the real world, playing along with him. But that was just his imagination; they had trapped him, a reality, in an unreal world. And no one was coming to get him for a long, long time. He continued to play…at least the sound of his song was real.

And, with all his heart, he continued to hope that someone would hear his beautiful cries for help.

* * *

A dark blot appeared in the sky, which was now dark, and a high-pitched fiendlike shriek split the air.

"Is that…?" Rikku stood, waiting to identify the spot in the sky as it shot toward them.

It was a fully transformed Auron; he looked exactly like the one they had encountered before. He spread his wings and landed several feet away from them with a thud, his large black feet scattering dust. Kimahri immediately rushed to the front of the group when Auron bared his teeth in a growl.

"Not Auron," said the Ronso, "Fight!"

"Wait, that's not him?" Rikku asked, readying her weapon anyway. The others did the same. "Are you sure, Kimahri?"

"Auron bigger when transformed." Kimahri rushed forward and slashed his spear across the thing's chest; it roared again, leaping forward to slash at its opponents. Rikku launched at it and buried a punch into the front of its face, knocking it back.

"Okay," she said. "Auron, if it's you, you'd better do something to show it!"

She'd expected the thing to growl back; what she didn't expect was it looking to the side and up for a split second before it was tackled by another of its kind. It was knocked to the ground, a strong claw locked on its throat and squeezing with all its might. The new addition to the fight looked about two or three times bigger than the first, strength evident in every feature of its shadowed body.

"That Auron," said Kimahri.

Rikku gaped. "Really? Hiya!"

Auron froze and looked at her, his dark eyes meeting hers. Unfortunately this gave the other a chance to deliver a smooth punch to his stomach, knocking him back. It leaped to its feet but Auron was quick, countering with such force that his claws scraped away strips of black flesh from his opponent. It shrieked and leapt into the air, shooting upward. Auron followed close behind.

"Is he going to kill it?" Wakka asked.

"Probably," Tidus said, twirling his sword with a flourish.

"Hopefully," Rikku agreed.

One hour later a blot appeared in the sky directly above them, falling at great speed. It was considerably smaller than the first blot. Everyone realized that it was human Auron at the same time…the Auron _without_ wings.

He plummeted toward his second death, seemingly unconscious.

"Kimahri!" Rikku cried as he fell closer and closer to the ground—the Ronso acted accordingly, positioning himself under the warrior and, when came the time, caught him with little effort.

Auron opened his eye slowly, looking at Rikku's worried face. "You can't honestly tell me that you want to be like me, now," he said, his voice somewhat weak. Rikku forced a laugh. "Promise me one thing, all of you."

"What's that?"

He smiled, his eye closing as the world decided to leave him for a while. "That you won't scream when I wake up."

The next morning, they did anyway.

* * *

_Another_ cliffhanger. Stupid school…but I had to end it here so the two week wait wouldn't stretch to three.

Random Auron image of the chapter:

Auron: "What's in YOUR (points) WALLET?"

-Ari Elisianete


	16. Auron, Guardian Angel Extraordinaire

It's back. And this chapter is actually long.

Nothing to say. Moving on!

* * *

He was the creature again; he was the monster inside, the monster that held the urge to kill for the longing of revenge that consumed it and fed the uncontrollable anger that poured into him. It had been only by sheer luck that he'd been able to resist the effects of his deathday long enough to return to his human form, and to let everyone be reassured that the ordeal was over and done with…but why? Maybe he had been able to put up a fight against his instincts because the other Unsent—the other monster—had had Rikku on his mind when he'd attacked. Or maybe he was getting stronger, being more and more able to ignore his bloodlust, to shove it away. Auron was pleased with the second idea.

He lay on his back, his even larger dark wings spread and taking up at least twenty good feet in their entirety; he stared up at the stars with yellow irises while he fought for breath, his slit pupils unmoving due to lack of light. His height had stretched to about nine or ten feet and his muscles had grown with it, stretching, thickening and strengthening. Now, with just a flick of his wrist, he could slit a regular human in half with little effort, he could punch a mountain wall and cause a stone avalanche.

And he hated it.

As a full-blown deathday-transformed Unsent, he had almost unlimited power whether he welcomed it or not, and that power never went wasted among other Unsents who weren't like him, who were completely willing to be angry and ostracize themselves from the living to kill when came the urge. When the urge had come for Auron the first time, right after his death, his strength had not been wasted, either.

First he had attacked Kimahri; the Ronso had fended him off somehow—Auron couldn't remember how…the memories were like a mirror that had fallen to the floor and shattered, yet whose pieces hadn't scattered, leaving the smallest gaps in the perfect image. But he remembered that through the anger he had gotten frustrated with his prey and fled to find quicker game. Then the bloody memories began…Auron had hunted down and killed a total of seventeen people—five of them women—before he'd come to his senses. He could still hear all of those women screaming, their faces showing terror in all of its forms as he closed in and took their lives, one by one. After he'd realized the pain that he had caused, he swore never to kill a woman again, and never to kill a man unless it was absolutely necessary. Yunalesca? He didn't count her as a woman; more like a heinous creature with a human form slapped on as a disguise.

Just like him.

His dark eyelids squeezed over his eyes, pressing the memories to leave. Reluctantly, they did. He turned his head to look at the person who made that fact hurt the most, who was lying only a few dangerous feet away from him, and suddenly the hate that he was struggling against was gone. He was numb in mind but not body, and he relaxed. No more trouble, now.

Rikku looked so insanely peaceful when she slept that Auron wondered if it was possible for a person to achieve that much inner stillness and content at all. That ship had pretty much sailed away and left him stranded on an uncharted island in that subject area, but at least he knew what he was in for. He was damned and doomed to walk the earth and/or Farplane with no chance at redemption to be rewarded with rest. At least she had a chance.

Slowly, he reached over to her hand. Carefully, he took it in his, making sure that he didn't pierce her perfect, fragile skin with his one-foot-long claws; the points of them aimed at the sky so he wouldn't close his fingers over hers and remove them. The temporary darkness of his skin seemed to suck the light away from her pale glow, reminding him yet again that he was just a walking monster that would never be human and could never try to fake it perfectly. And that was why he couldn't let himself fall any more in love with such a pure being.

Cold hard reasoning was dominant without emotion, but as he remained sore and still and silent Auron was sure that he had become confused when, for the first time in ten years or maybe longer, a tear rolled down his cheek.

* * *

"What's that?" Rikku pointed her stubby finger at the object that she was trying to bring to attention. Her mother raised an eyebrow.

"That?" she asked. "Why, that's a candle, sweetie."

Rikku stuck out her lower lip in frustration. "Nooooo, not that," she said, jabbing her finger at it again. "That!"

Her mother changed objects, moving her vision a little to the side. What she saw first was her favorite painting that hung on the wall of her bedroom, coupled with two rarely used candles to either side. The painting was of two people, a woman and a man, who were clothed in light robes that fell about them in folds and blew out to the side in a frozen wind. The robes exposed their upper backs from which each sprouted a pair of beautiful white wings that were spread in flight. Together, hand in hand, the two were flying through a gap in the clouds toward the magnificent sun.

"The painting, or the people?" she asked.

"The people. Why do they have wings?" Rikku waddled over and leaped into her mother's lap, prepared for a story. The woman smiled brightly, bringing her daughter into her arms.

"They're called angels."

"Huh?" Rikku got the most precious look of confusion on her face. "But I thought I was an angel. How come I don't get any wings?"

Her mother laughed. "Because when I call you an angel, I mean that you're the cutest, sweetest, most adorable little girl on earth—" she paused to tickle her stomach, and Rikku giggled in feeble protest— "but the other type of angel is a being that has wings to represent their good spirit, or the wonderful view that you have toward them. They're a legend and most people think that they don't exist, but I think that they're in hiding way up in the clouds, watching over us."

Rikku's innocent eyes widened in fascination. "Ohhh," she cooed, "Well, what's a legend?"

"A legend is a story about something that people can take different views about. Some could say that it is nothing more than a story, but others believe that the story could be true." She smiled. "But since angels stand for something so pure, people use their name anyway to represent a love. For example, your father is my angel."

"But he doesn't have any cool wings!"

"He doesn't need wings to love me."

Rikku seemed to contemplate that in the confines of her small but growing mind. She suddenly leaped off of her mother's lap.

"You know what?" she said, grinning. "Someday I'm gonna get my own angel. And he's gonna have wings and love me lots and lots, and one day he'll take me to that place in the clouds!"

"I'm sure you will," said her mother, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "But for now, you're my angel, too, okay?"

"Yep, yep!"

* * *

Rikku woke slowly, not even bothering to open her eyes. Augh…the sun wasn't up just yet; she would have been able to feel it on her skin if it was. Her body was elevated, as if she was leaning against a slightly tilted wall. The wall felt like cold marble, but somehow soft at the same time. A marble pillar was holding her in place, extended out to hold her back so she wouldn't fall. Something scratchy was itching her forehead, while something a bit silky was brushing against the arm that wasn't against the marble. She wanted to open her eyes to find out where she was, but she was so _tired_, and if the others knew she was awake then they would be all over the "up and at 'em!" statement. It was then that she heard something behind the marble wall; a steady beat, like that of a drum. It beat two times, paused, then two more and again. Almost like a heartbeat. Wait…was the wall _alive_? She squinted her eyes, determined to confirm her location without revealing herself.

The first thing she saw was a thick, white veil covering her vision—and, apparently, her entire body. Sitting up as much as she could, which was only an inch or two, she found what seemed to be an opening in the veil. It felt silky smooth to the touch, like the thing that had brushed her arms. She felt…feathers as she gently pushed, but suddenly the marble pillar left her back and the veil flew open unexpectedly, revealing the Calm Lands. She whipped around and a scream rose from her throat just as a hand flew forward to cover her mouth, silencing her quickly enough. Auron chuckled.

"I thought I told you not to scream," he said, amusement laced through his voice. His voice…it was like someone had taken it and smoothed out all of the rustiness and oldness and weariness and given it back to him; it was now one of those voices where if it told you to go jump off of a cliff, you would probably do it. She came to four realizations simultaneously; not a good thing when she tried to put words together. One: She had been sleeping in Auron's lap all night. Two: Auron was literally glowing, like his skin was on fire with light but not so much that it hurt to look at him. Three: The veils were actually wings; big, white, beautiful feathered wings that were attached to his still shirtless back.

Four: Auron's heart was beating.

She squealed unintelligible things into his hand, though it didn't really matter that her voice was muffled; nothing she said had been understandable to even her. He made her promise not to scream or squeal or babble before he finally removed his hand, and it took her one eternity (one minute) to compose herself. Before she started babbling.

"Your voice! And your—you've got wings, and not black ones like you did but big white wings and _your heart is beating_!" She strained not to absolutely yell the last few words.

He gave her a weird look. "Yeah."

"_Yeah_?" she quoted, realizing that she was still on his lap. Of course, she didn't move. "Would you mind explaining things a little before I explode?"

"This is all part of my deathday," he stated simply. "I also have increased speed and strength. At the end of today I'll lose the…" he gestured to his glowing skin, "…appearance—that excluding the wings. Maybe. Which bonuses go first after that is pretty much random from then on out."

"So this is, like…normal?"

"For my kind, yes."

_Stop calling it "your kind,"_ she thought in immediate protest.

"Anyway, you're up early," he commented, leaning forward and folding his wings.

"I am?" She was suddenly very aware of how close he had just come, how near this godlike creature was to her.

"It will be an hour or two before sunrise, yet."

Rikku yawned, getting off of his lap casually enough and sitting beside him. She suddenly realized how hard the ground was.

"I'm really sorry for what I said yesterday, you know," she moaned through her yawn, "Do you forgive me now?"

There was a pause before Auron reached out and poked the square of her forehead with his index finger. She blinked in sleepy surprise. "Of course," he said. "You were only angry, and I just happened to be the first person in the way of it."

"Yay," she muttered, still drowsy. "Augh. Why'd I have to wake up so early? And I was having a good dream, too."

"What about?"

"Uhh…well, you know how you have those dreams sometimes where the dream is actually a memory, but there's nothing weird about it?" she said. "Like, the dream _is_ the memory."

"I know."

"Well, the dream had my mom in it. And—"

Fifth realization: Auron had big, white wings on his back. He was glowing. So, Auron was a literal angel.

Holy crap. New question.

"—what's flying like? Without a huge airship and all?"

"What?" Auron asked. She had completely changed gears in the middle of a sentence. "It's…flying. There's nothing much to say about it."

"Yeah, but what's it like skimming the clouds and stuff? That _has_ to be fun."

He gave her that look again. "Do you want to see for yourself?"

_Yes!_ she mentally shouted, just nodding. With her permission, Auron scooped her up into his arms and leaped from the ground to unfurl his massive wings, pushing down and lifting them away from the ground.

"Don't look down until I tell you to," he said, "because if you get sick on me I will never forgive you."

She squeezed her eyes shut, and for several minutes there was nothing but darkness and the steady beat of his wings—and, of course, his heart.

"Why _is_ your heart beating?" she asked to pass her blind time. She felt him shrug.

"Maybe it's for the sake of peace," Auron said. "Once a year, for a few days, the dead get to fake life. They get to be around the living without the fear of revealing their state—Unsents are extremely self-conscious when it comes to that…Either that, or it beats as a comparison note: 'We are dead, they are alive. Don't forget that.'"

He sighed. "Sometimes I want to, though—you can open your eyes, now."

She did, gasping at the rippling masses of fluffy clouds below. They glowed softly under the receding moon, twisting and turning about the sky in fat, haphazard patterns that sometimes left gaps for her to gaze through before Auron passed over them. They looked like the material inside a pillow that wasn't made of chocobo feathers, though softer somehow.

"We were talking about angels," she blurted. He gave her a confused eye.

"Who?"

"Me and my mom," she clarified, "In the dream."

She told him the small story of her childish curiosity, leaving out the last part where she had promised to find her own angel 'who would fly her into the sky.' That situation fit the present _way_ too much. But…did Auron—?

Nah.

"Literal angels, which are actually Unsents, represent _love_?" Auron said, laughing in disbelief. "People sure have it backwards."

"You'd never heard this before?"

"I heard the real version of the story," he said. "A long time ago, an Unsent had his deathday and accidentally let himself be seen with his wings. Someone saw him and named the 'creature' the first thing that came to mind, spreading legends about it. One of those legends was your story. But it turns out that the _angel_ still had a little hate left over from the night before, and was going out to satisfy his fury."

"How do you know that's what happened?"

"I was never told, but I just…know. Comes with the instincts, I think."

"Oh, I get it." She looked up at him. "You know, I consider you an angel."

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"Well, yeah," she said, adjusting herself in his arms. "Angels watch over people, and that's kinda like what you do. You're always watching over _us_, making sure we don't get hurt and you steer us in the right direction."

He grunted. "I suppose."

"But it's true!" Rikku said, clasping her hands together. "You aren't just guarding Yuna, you're guarding all of us! Especially me, apparently—why is that?"

He paused as if the question had caught him off guard. "Besides Tidus and Yuna," he said slowly, almost hesitantly, "you are my number one priority."

Her eyes widened. "Really?" He gave a short nod. "Why?"

"Because you are the youngest of us," he said. Rikku crossed her arms.

"Oh. Is that it?" she asked, disappointment trying not to show in her voice.

"No, no. Not because I think you're weak—which I don't at all," he added quickly, "—but because you have so many things to do and see in the world, and if you die and go Unsent half of those things become unavailable to you. If you die completely, then all of your options disappear—the only thing that you will have left is the Farplane." He shook his head. "Nobody wants to see that happen."

"While we're on the depressing subject of death," Rikku began, "how did your parents die?" Auron was silent, not even looking at her. "Helloooo?"

His eyes were unnaturally blank; he jerked once. Rikku screamed as his wings suddenly folded and they began to plummet toward the ground.

* * *

Her hand felt so soft in his, squeezing lightly in request for comfort, and she hung her head slightly and let her black hair fall to cover her dark, brown eyes that he could picture perfectly in his mind. They walked slowly down a dimly lit hall, small torches their only light source. As they passed each floating flame their shadows slid in an arc and, upon reaching the next one, began again. They walked for at least thirty minutes, their shoes clacking in time with each other on the floor, everything silent otherwise but the whisper of the flames that they passed. They eventually came to their destination—a large, cylinder room. This one was so devoid of light that both pairs of pupils widened to consume their irises, focusing on the object attached to the wall on the other side of the room: a piano. Two torches hung to either side, and several were hanging around the room in a spiral leading upward—this place was one big tube with no end in sight, and they were at the very bottom.

"Edward," she said softly, her grip on his hand loosening significantly. "Why can't we let him out?"

Edward sighed. "You know why," he said softly. "Elayne—"

"But he's better, now. I can feel it," she said. "And stop calling me that. It's Ella."

"Sorry." Edward's blue eyes remained locked on the piano as he ran a hand through his orange hair. "We have no way of knowing his condition…and besides, he deserves this, doesn't he? Why else would they order me to lock him up?"

Ella just shook her head and let go of his hand to cross the room with the unique grace that he adored; he followed her and came to a stop at her side where she stood in front of the instrument, staring down at it with her still concealed eyes. He daringly began to reach over to tuck her hair behind her ear, but before he had moved even an inch her hand shot out and seized his wrist, her massive strength stopping his advance immediately.

"That's not how it happened," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "Forget the stories they've told you."

Her body betrayed her strength—she was beyond beautiful, taking the form of her actual age but looking much younger, like a twenty-year-old, or maybe younger if you really looked. She was slim, she was perfect. Her iron grip on his wrist lessened and she slowly lifted his palm to her cheek.

"Listen," she said, "he's calling for help. He's calling for us."

Edward knew that he was excluded from "us," but he listened. And through the walls, he heard the soft notes of a piano.

_**

* * *

**_

_**Come here.**_

It wasn't Ender's voice, Auron was sure. But he really wasn't paying attention; he could only focus on the images flashing across his vision, slowly and deliberately as if they were being sent to him by someone else who apparently needed him to see them. He saw several locations along with the commands to go to each one alone; he saw a cavern lit by cyan crystals, a sword embedded in a stone wall; his vision flew forward and through a wall in that cavern to reveal what seemed to be a secret room with a wide pillar in the middle, glowing symbols carved into it.

_**Go there,**_ said the voice, _**see the place, get the sword, open the pillar. Remember.**_

His real senses returned, and the first thing he was aware of was Rikku's screams. He realized that they were falling to both of their dooms. And he realized that he could do something about it, thankfully.

Spreading his wings, he executed a complicated move in midair and spun several feet to the side to catch Rikku and slow down so he could land without breaking his legs. The rough touchdown that followed sent a jolt up his entire body, making him fall to his knees, but overall he was fine. And, more importantly, so was Rikku. Even if she did look like she was about to have a premature heart attack. Still, he had to ask if she was alright.

"No!" she gasped, "We almost went splat!"

He set her down gently, not responding. He was too occupied with all of the things on his mind—there were too many things on his mind. The visions, his forgotten family, Tidus's situation, _his_ situation, and Ender—he mentally spat that name. And Rikku, who was slowly consuming his thoughts like an angelic parasite.

"Uhh…are you okay?"

He just buried his face in his hands, mental weariness winning over. "No."

She sat up, her previous experience seemingly forgotten. "What's up?"

Giving a heavy sigh, he let his hands fall to his knees. "I have too much to think about lately."

Rikku giggled. "Having one of those 'stop the world, I wanna get off' moments, huh?"

"Not my ideal choice of wording," he replied, "but yes." He forced a laugh. "At least you're awake now."

It was true; her heart was also beating so fast that she thought it might go splat all over her insides. She closed her eyes trying not to look at Auron, which really didn't help her pounding pulse.

"_That_ won't happen again," Auron promised, helping her up as he stood. "Let's get back to the others before they make the decision to leave. We still have things to do here."

"Like what?"

"Obtaining another aeon," he replied, turning to walk off. She held back a gasp at what she saw on his back—painful-looking scars running across it in different directions.

_Another reason to hate Yunalesca_, she thought, following close behind.

* * *

Before the others woke she used her old claw to cut slits in the back of Auron's leather armor (with his permission), and he somehow got his wings through. There was much editing of said slits, but eventually he could unfurl his wings without any discomfort.

"Umm…what about your jacket?" she asked, pointing to the red mass in his hands. He did the strangest thing, then. His wings began to fold and fold and fold again like craft paper, stacking against his back as if they were flexible at any given point. When he pulled on his jacket the wings made absolutely no sign that they existed through the cloth.

Aww…no more shirtless Auron.

Amazingly enough, the others hadn't woken up yet. Rikku did the service of skipping from comrade to comrade, shaking them to alertness when she had to resort to doing so. It was after she had woken everyone that she realized how _annoying_ Tidus's yawn was.

Up and at 'em.

"Where to, now?" Yuna asked, immediately answered with a "Remiem Temple," by Auron.

"Where?" asked Tidus.

Auron pointed toward the exit of the Calm Lands, but a little toward the left, toward a second, barely visible crevice.

On the other side of the friggen plains.

"I'm _not_ walking that far," Rikku said, gaping at the distance. "I'd rather ride a chocobo."

Yuna and Tidus raised their hands. Me too, me three. Wakka and Lulu, me four, I as well.

"I'll run, thanks," Auron said; a glance from Kimahri told that he would do the same. Though the Ronso were a large figured race, they were fast due to their natural conditioning on the mountains. They could easily run as fast as a jogging chocobo. However, humans couldn't, which was what earned Auron quite a few confused looks.

"You'll _what_?"

"Let me put this in terms that even you would understand," Rikku said to Tidus, putting her hands on her hips. "Unsent on deathday equals Unsent on serious crack."

Auron chuckled. "Again, not quite my preferred terminology."

She turned around and stuck out her tongue playfully.

* * *

It wasn't the fact that Auron was keeping up that amazed Rikku beyond words, it was the way he was _doing_ it. As their chocobos ran at a comfortable speed, he ran beside Kimahri (who was bounding on all fours). Auron looked as if he were gliding across the ground, running and yet not. But he was keeping up, and that was the big picture.

As soon as they reached the cliff edge he amazed them all again by leaping almost twenty feet to a ledge above their dead end, landing smoothly. Kimahri leapt a few feet, latched his claws into the cliff wall, and launched himself to Auron's position to wait for the others, whose chocobos had to take a moment to register that they were going to jump.

A few birdlike squeaks later they had passed the winding path through the gorge, emerging on the other side almost seconds later.

Remiem Temple was waiting for them there, looming toward the sky in such greatness that it made the guardians feel as though they were blind to have not noticed it already. Towers stretched all over the structure, reaching to the clouds.

The crew dismounted and left their chocobos, commanding them to wait obediently behind.

"This place is huge," Tidus commented, stepping onto the long, rope-suspended wooden bridge with caution. Once he was sure it was safe for Yuna he walked forward, leading them to the other side.

"It seems Belgemine is more of an introvert than we should expect," said Auron.

"What do you mean?" Yuna asked, stepping quickly from the bridge.

"She is inside."

"You mean…?"

His following nod earned surprised exchanged glances, especially with Yuna. They were pushing the double doors open before they knew it, and stepped inside.

It looked like the average temple with its interior designs; statues of past summoners loomed about, but were dusty and uncared for. There were a few summoners missing as well, meaning that no one had bothered to come and give the place and update.

Just as predicted, Belgemine stood at the center of the room with her eyes set on them as they entered. As soon as she noticed Auron, she gave a soft bow.

"Sir," she said, "I'm not sure whether I should give you congratulations or say that I'm terribly sorry."

"Neither, thank you." The warrior returned the gesture, and Belgemine seemed to forget him completely.

"Welcome, Yuna."

"What is this place?" asked the younger summoner, glancing around at the statues once more.

"Remiem Temple." She waved her arm in the direction of the more dusty sculptures. "Once a great religious center in the Calm Lands, lost after the battle with Sin."

"And this is your home?" Tidus said. "What, you got something against company?"

"It's a long story," she said. "Easier, perhaps, to show you."

Pyreflies emerged from her body and began to glow.

"You're dead too?" Apparently he hadn't gotten Auron's previous message.

Yuna's eyes assumed the look of someone doing a tired duty as she raised her staff slowly in regret. Belgemine stopped her, thankfully without Ginnem's methods.

"Do not send me just yet," she said, and Yuna's staff fell to her side. Her eyes showed relief. "There is still one thing left for me to do here."

"What would that be?"

"I have been watching you, Yuna," she said. "You have already surpassed your father—I have nothing more to teach you, but something more to give you."

She held up a staff of her own, a long weapon with a phoenix spearing its wings at the end. Under the creature was a seemingly painted crest and ribbon, reading "_Nirvana_."

"I would like you to have this," she said. "It has aided me and many others in our art, and now it will aid you. Use it well, Lady Yuna, and rid Spira of Sin forever."

Yuna took the weapon awkwardly, as if she was unwilling to accept it. She gazed at her other staff, her first staff, the staff that had seen her through the years since she was very young and had first decided to sacrifice herself for the good of the world. She held it out to the other summoner.

"Please," she said, "take this to my father. Give him my love, and tell him that I promise to make him proud."

Belgemine held the staff with care. "You already have," she said. "I will be sure to do so."

"Send her," Auron said, taking an involuntary step back. Using her new staff, she began to do just that.

Rikku watched as Belgemine began to fade away and the man in red flinched once, most likely a result of being close to a sending. She would ask him what that felt like later.

And soon Belgemine was gone, replaced by empty air only...and maybe some dust.

"The aeon?" Yuna asked, seeming a bit shaken like she always did after a sending.

"Inside." Auron lead the way and the door slid open easily, the leafy crystals parting to allow their summoner entrance. Contrary to custom, they followed her.

The Chamber was not what they had pictured; in fact, there was nothing _to_ picture. The room beyond the Chamber's door was pitch black, causing a reluctant entry. The very door snapped shut behind them and made most of them jump. For light Auron released several pyreflies, but the darkness seemed to suck away at their light like a hungry animal—still he kept them out as some sort of anchor points.

"Huh," he said, "I can't see through this."

Fear rose in Rikku's chest, rendering her as still as the statues in the previous room. This wasn't ordinary darkness, she realized.

The footsteps that sounded then alerted them all that Auron had walked forward, and they watched as eight pyreflies began to circle the room in survey. They skimmed what Rikku guessed was the wall for a time, moving counter-clockwise. Suddenly three broke from the group and took a ninety degree left turn, moving slowly ahead. The remaining five finished circling the room and joined them, still moving forward.

"This room is like one giant tube," he quietly announced as the darkness swallowed his spirits quite some distance away. "I can't feel the end."

Urgency suddenly entered his voice. "This isn't like the time when Braska came. Everyone, get down—I can feel something coming."

Rikku sank to one knee and felt the others do the same, sliding into a protective circle with Yuna at the center.

He let out a small sound out of nowhere.

"What?" Rikku immediately responded, lifting Godhand.

"It's nothing." She could imagine him shaking his head. "Listen to the darkness—see if you can feel what I'm feeling."

Rikku felt like he was talking to her directly, even though he wasn't, and she didn't know how to _listen_ to what you needed to _see_. But she tried.

"What are we supposed to be looking out for?"

"It can't be explained."

"That's real helpful."

Seconds passed and turned to minutes, which began to drag by.

"I'm going to try something."

There was suddenly blue-ish light, and the others blinked as their eyes protested. They turned to see Auron holding a ball of light, illuminating the whole room…or what was left of it.

It looked like someone had burned out the inside of a long, long tube, just like he'd said.

"Let's move."

The guardians began to travel down the long hall, maintaining their circle around Yuna, all reflecting on how quickly the tides could turn.

Like at the next moment, when a voice rang out in all directions.

"Hello, little one," it said. "We have much to discuss, you and I."

Tendrils shot from the wall and wrapped around Auron too quickly for him to predict and dodge, pulling him into the wall. Before he or anyone could react, he was gone without a sound, taking his light with him.

Rikku gasped to hold back a scream and the others covered theirs in similar ways.

"What just happened?" she cried, her voice echoing down the tube like hall.

"Ask someone who knows!" Tidus said, scanning his surroundings as frantically as the others.

"Is he…?" Yuna failed to finish.

"No," Rikku said quickly. "We need to keep moving, guys. I've got a feeling."

Indeed she did; now that the darkness was back, she was listening with more intent—she could now sense…_something_ at the end of the tube, or at least in that direction. "Come on, come on!"

* * *

"You hate yourself more than I'd expected, little one."

Auron sat up, immediately aware of the fact that it was still dark but he could see—just enough to make out a black silhouette that would have been black anyway.

"En—you," he spat.

"_Much_ more than I'd expected," Ender continued, "and for the stupidest reasons. Why do you hate your power so much? It is the greatest gift that you will ever receive."

"Which power?" Auron asked, standing up with much effort. "That thing you call _Flashfire_, or my condition?"

"Deathdays are not 'conditions,'" he said. "It's the few days that you can destroy absolutely anything. And condition is such a negative word…it shouldn't be used to describe said glorious event."

Auron swayed as a wave of dizziness swept over him. "Not glorious," he murmured, "disastrous." He felt contaminated, as if a poison was spreading through his body. His sight shook.

"Well," Ender said, his lips forming a smile. "I'm going to show you what a disaster you can be. I'm going to show _her_, too."

The sickness got stronger, and Auron fell to his knees.

"Don't worry," he continued, "you'll stop despising yourself and your power soon enough. I'll make sure of it."

Vaguely Auron saw a body appear next to his self-declared enemy, taking shape and form and detail. His vision stopped quivering long enough to make out Auron no.2—with a black jacket instead of red—standing there triumphantly.

And suddenly his sight was clear.

* * *

Rikku was, strangely, the one in front of the group as they stepped through the thick darkness heading to nowhere. They were moving as silently as they could, listening for any signs of danger as they moved. Even the slightest misstep made them all tense at the sound of one of their comrades catching themselves. Lulu had tried to conjure a ball of flame, but the blackness seemed to swallow it every time.

Rikku had her hands out in front of her, her elbows bent a little so that if she ran into anything her arms would just fold. That's exactly what happened when she came to what she might have guessed was the end of the giant tube.

"Guys," she whispered, making one or two jump, "I can feel the end right here."

"Is there anything on the wall?" Yuna asked, and the Al Bhed ran her hands over the smooth, alien surface. A crevice hit her fingers and she began to trace it, eventually making out a complex design that she failed to picture.

"Yeah, a carving. I don't know what it's of, though." She stepped to the side to get a wider feel, breaking from the circle.

"Elayne, how are you doing that?"

Everyone whipped around to see two children sitting in the dark, a boy and a girl. The girl held a blue ball of light like the one that Auron had. Pyreflies floated around them, meaning that they were merely memories, but of whom?

"I'unno," she said, looking up at him. The light grew brighter, revealing that both of them had black hair. "I'm just doing it."

"Why can't I do that?"

She grinned. "Maybe you're not special enough."

The boy stuck out his tongue. "Nyaaaah."

"Oi," a voice said from a few feet behind them. A man stepped into view; he had black hair with touches of grey—was that Auron? No, no. But it _really_ looked like him. "Time to go."

The girl made the light vanish, leaving everyone in the dark once more. "Kay." And just like that, all three specters disappeared completely. Rikku rushed over to where they had once stood in curiosity.

That turned out to be a terrible mistake.

The same blue-ish portal that had swallowed Auron up appeared again right in front of her nose, and this time the tendrils didn't even have to reach an inch before they had seized some part of her and were pulling her in. She only had time to utter the smallest scream before it was cut off and she was dragged through the wall, leaving the others behind.

* * *

Now Auron was in a hall of his own, still seeing blindly into darkness. He kept walking, too, resisting the urge to run. Auron no.2 was bound to be silently stalking him; he had disappeared just before Auron had been thrust into this place.

There was a high pitched noise, and suddenly a blue portal opened in the wall above him. It wasn't even a second before a figure shot from the light and the portal disappeared. The person came crashing down on Auron with an _oof_, making him and said stranger fall to the floor. A few moments passed before the figure jumped off of him, screaming a few octaves higher than his ears could handle.

"AAAAHH! Ew, ew, ew, dead body EW!" Rikku cried, backing up against the wall. "Ugh! I wonder if there are any other corpses here."

Auron scowled, standing. "I wouldn't exactly consider me a corpse," he said, making her scream again. As soon as she composed herself she launched herself at him to give him a hug.

"Don't _do_ that!" she said. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry."

She paused. "Any idea where we are?"

"No," Auron said. "But we need to keep moving. That's the best idea." No sense in waiting around for some real corpses to make their appearance. But he didn't say that, only lead her forward.

Now that Rikku was here he felt a little bit more relaxed—that is, until he remembered his short conversation with Ender.

_I'm going to show_ her_, too._

His heart sped up—ahh, how he had missed that feeling—as he put the pieces together. He was only a real monster when he was transformed, but Ender had said "disaster." He was a disaster on his deathday when he lost control of his temper, but he had to lose control first for that to happen. And then the puzzle snapped together: Ender was going to do something to make him furious.

In front of Rikku.

But what? And what had he made the clone for?

His thoughts were swept away as the darkness was replaced by light from torches hanging everywhere in the dome-like room that they now stood at the center of. They both grimaced at the newfound vision at the same time, but Auron recovered first, scanning his surroundings to immediately find Auron number two standing at the end of the room. The strange material that this place was made of suddenly slid over entrance and solidified, leaving them trapped.

Rikku looked from Auron to Auron, confused. "What's happening?" she asked, "Why's there another you?"

"I don't know." Auron tensed, ready for a fight. "Be careful. I don't think he's here to give us some friendly advice."

The clone had a blank look in his eye, like he had no brain whatsoever. He moved like it, too—as if he was a realistic robot programmed to attack. Blue fire surrounded him and Auron had to leap to the side to dodge the arc that came flying at him, taking Rikku along.

"We weren't finished talking, little one," the clone said, sending several arcs his way for him to evade.

"About what?" Auron asked calmly, dodging smoothly. Rikku leapt to the side to separate herself from the line of fire.

"Your disaster," the clone said simply, the fire disappearing. He vanished suddenly, and Auron looked frantically around for his opponent. Where he found him was not in his best fighting interests.

The copy reached forward and pulled Rikku close, who began to struggle against his grip. Auron froze at the same time she did—when the clone lifted her chin. His world came crashing down around him in tiny fragments as evil Auron leaned down…and kissed her.

Auron had never really known the meaning of true, true rage before, but he was pretty sure that this was it. She struggled harder against him, pushing with all her might against his chest in an attempt to get away, but he was too strong, keeping her prisoner in his iron arms—fueling the fire that was rising in Auron's heart.

Before he knew it he had launched forward and driven a blow to the clone's face that was so hard it had A: separated him from Rikku, and B: sent him flying into the wall some twenty feet away. Rikku gasped for breath as Auron's superhuman speed carried him across the distance between him and his opponent in less than a second, allowing him to lift the clone by his collar and hurl him across the room to crash into the wall again—but this time he broke through. Auron raced after him, determined to rip him to tiny little bite sized pieces as soon as possible but as slow as possible.

He leaped through the hole with a snarl and kicked the clone in midair, making him fly even further. Thank goodness for walls.

The power at the back of his mind—Flashfire—welled up and overcame him, and suddenly he couldn't control himself anymore. He sent arc after arc of light spiraling at his copy, each hit connecting. The clone fell to the ground and Auron walked over to him, lifting him again. That was the first time he noticed the rest of his comrades off to the right with the most confused looks on their faces. He ignored them completely.

"How _dare_ you," he seethed, adding a punch for each stressed word, "_force_ yourself on _her_!"

The clone merely turned his head back to smile at him in triumph, and that was when Auron snapped.

Rikku leaped through the hole and landed smoothly just in time to process that she was in another dome-like room and see Auron hurling the evil one across the room again. But there was something wrong—Auron had this cold blooded look in his eye, like that of a killer about to demonstrate his name. The same blue fire that the clone had used against them surrounded him, and this time it was stronger, more powerful. She watched as Auron lifted his hand without moving an inch toward his opponent, and the copy floated to hang in the air, now beaten and defeated. Auron chuckled, and it sounded like another voice was speaking behind his.

"Have you ever wondered how much blood there is in the body?" he said, phrasing it as a statement somehow. "I can show you." He slowly began to ball his hand into a fist, and Rikku watched in horror as the clone began to scream. She had never heard _any_ Auron scream in pain before, and it was something she discovered that she never wanted to hear again.

And all the while the real Auron had this strange smile on his face, like he was enjoying his opponent's pain.

"Auron, stop," Rikku forced. He didn't move except for tightening his fist and smiling wider. The clone screamed louder. "Stop!"

She rushed over to him, holding his arm. "Stop it, please!"

He froze, his fist unraveling. His eye widened and he stared at where the clone had been as it fell to the floor, obviously dead. Rikku looked up at his eye, which had been wiped of the murderer's stare. Slowly she went to his front and took his head in her hands, knowing what he needed to hear. His hand dropped to his side as he sank to his knees, his eye still wide as though he had just witnessed a traumatizing event—he probably had. "Please," she said, "get a hold of yourself. Calm down."

Slowly, and miraculously without blushing, she lowered his ear to her own heart and watched as he closed his eye to listen. Meanwhile the clone melted away in black smoke, going unnoticed by everyone. Auron relaxed, losing the will to fight.

"I'm a monster," he said softly, "a disaster just waiting to hap…"

Whatever he'd been about to say was cut off as he fell unconscious.

* * *

Auron woke on a hard stone floor, his free hand folded on top of his bound one. He kept his eye closed when he realized that he was the subject of his comrade's conversation.

"So, let me get this straight," Tidus said. "The clone Auron, uh…kissed you, and all of a sudden the real one got really angry because of it and almost made someone explode?"

"That's pretty much the gist of it," he heard Rikku say.

"Huh. Well, at least Yuna got the aeon."

"And did you guys see anything else while me and Auron were separated from you?"

Yuna hesitated. "Well…we did see a few more scenes with those children. And we know that the girl's name is Elayne. But the boy called her Ella most of the time."

"What's the boy's name?"

"We don't know. We also think that the man was their father. But what we need to know is why we saw so many of those memories, and why they were all different," Lulu added.

The group fell silent, having no way to know the answer to that problem.

"What should we do next?" Yuna asked. Auron decided to wake up.

"Send me."

The others whipped around to look at him, but he just stared at the ceiling of Remiem Temple.

"Huh?" Tidus raised an eyebrow. "But why?"

"I can't afford losing control like that again," Auron said, giving the simplest reply. "Yuna, send me."

"I'm sorry, Sir Auron." Yuna said. "I refuse."

"Way to go, Yunie!"

_**You're thinking irrationally,**_ said voice-that-wasn't-Ender-or-Bahamut, _**you need to wake up.**_

_You told me to go somewhere,_ Auron thought to the stranger. _That cave._

_**It's in Macalania Forest.**_ There was a pause. _**I don't care if you think you can send yourself now. You must go there before you leave Spira. If you try to send yourself, if you try to make someone send you, I promise to negate the ritual in the most painful way possible.**_

Auron tried to figure out if the voice was bluffing. Could someone really _stop_ a sending once it had gotten underway?

_**Try me.**_

Rikku poked his head. "You're still half asleep, stupid. Wake up!" He sat up, giving her a penetrating stare. He could still picture her fighting against his copy's grip, trying as hard as she could to get away. Did that mean that she couldn't stand the idea of kissing him?

His heart sank. Yes, he decided, it probably did.

"There we go," she said, smiling. "_Now_ you're back to your senses. No more deathy thoughts, alright?"

He stood without any of the offered help, nodding curtly. "We need to go to Macalania Forest," he said. "There's something I have to do there."

Since the others had no other place in mind, they agreed.

* * *

Minutes later they had entered the cold crystal woods, trudging through the forest at its clean underbrush. They had been forced to leave the chocobos behind (earning many groans from the more whiney members of the team) and were now in the bulk of the small forest.

The crystals seemed to have a soft, shining sound of their own that sounded as they pulsed, getting brighter as the party passed as if they wanted to come along.

_Just where is this cave that I'm supposed to be looking for?_ Auron asked the voice, not expecting an answer.

_**You're getting closer, **_it said. _**Keep following the path, then take a hard right. Climb over the natural wall and you'll be there.**_

Wow. Auron liked this voice; it was very specific and didn't speak in riddles to no end, actually answering him when he talked back.

_**Thank you.**_

And it was polite. Auron suddenly felt very stupid for complimenting a voice in his head…

He didn't need conformation when he reached the "natural wall" that the voice had pointed out. Alerting the others, he and Kimahri gave their comrades a boost to the top of what seemed to be a regular stone boulder, then leaped up themselves to see that the rock was very big and hollow, revealing a hole that dug deep into the ground.

_**Inside is the cave.**_

Auron hopped down, sliding inside with the others close behind.

* * *

The inside of the cave was definitely manmade—there were canals, for crying out loud!

It was like a Yevonite temple, only less religious and more like a haven for weary travelers just like them. The ceiling was high above, meaning that they had gone some distance underground, but it looked as sturdy as the day it might have been built. The walls were just as strong, and the pillars around the huge room were still looming above with no cracks or weaknesses to be found. All around the room in complex designs ran small canals cut into stone that lead to one big one that was deep and wide enough to have a comfortable swim in. There were what looked like shelters built around that at the top of the first set of steps, around a pool that, again, looked nice enough to swim in. up from the second set of steps, which were much longer that the first, was one large temple-like building. And there were crystals _everywhere_, looming out of the pillars, sticking up from the water, growing from the structures as if they were the fruits of plants. They glowed with a cyan light that set the whole mini civilization ablaze with their sheen.

"Secret hideout, anyone?" Rikku said, dashing forward to explore her self-declared headquarters. Auron followed her, though more slowly.

"There's supposed to be a hidden room, somewhere."

Rikku stopped, her emerald spirals widening. She turned around to look at him. "_Really_?"

"We just have to figure out where it is and how to open it."

"Cooooool!"

_**It's at the back of the cave, in that building up there.**_

Auron's eye immediately locked on the temple-like building. "We should start at the back and work our way to the front."

"Okay!"

By the time the rest of the crew had reached her, Rikku was already skipping about the room around a table-like platform in the center, her eyes searching wildly. "Do you think there's treasure in there, or something?"

_**Not the kind of treasure she would want,**_ said the voice. _**The only person it is valuable to is you.**_

He wondered what he meant by that. _Any helpful suggestions on how we get in?_ He scanned the walls to find carvings and paintings galore. The voice didn't answer, so the solution must have been obvious. He found himself staring at a sword that had been carved into the wall so expertly that it looked real.

Wait…duh. It _was_ real.

He stepped forward and pulled the sword from the wall; with much effort it snapped loose and into his hands. Rikku turned around to give it the same sort of examination that Auron was. It was long but light, though still heavy enough that only he could use it. A brownish-red color of rust but not rusted in itself, it split near the end to form a semicircle with the blade's tips. Near the more solid base was a crest just like on Rikku's Godhand; it read "_Masamune_."

The wall that had held the sword gave a loud thud from the other side, and a crack spread down the middle of it. Several others joined it until the small section burst into fragments and fell to the floor, revealing the secret room that they sought.

Rikku was the first inside.

The room was exactly like Auron had seen in his vision when he had fallen from the sky—a plain, stone room with a wide pillar jutting out from the wall, and a platform jutted out from that fairly low to the ground. Blue unreadable symbols glowed all over the structure, and above the platform on the pillar was a rectangle, symbolizing a drawer of some sort.

_**Open it.**_

"Stand back," Auron ordered, leaning Masamune against the wall to walk over and pull at the drawer, which slid open quite easily out onto the platform. It had a stone top which Auron slid away, and leaned over to look inside.

And there lay the original, the real, Auron number 1. The scar looked fresh, and Auron could picture the wounds under the red jacket just as red and painful. His former self's eyes were closed, his hands folded over one another. Auron reached out and touched the body's forehead. It was real. He staggered back.

"Impossible," he whispered, "impossible…"

Rikku rushed forward. "What, wha—"

She couldn't move at all, much less speak. The others had the same reaction, except for Kimahri, who hadn't moved at all.

"You knew that was in there, didn't you?" Auron asked the Ronso, who nodded. "Why didn't I?"

"Auron forget when first transform."

He understood. Through his bloodlust he must have forgotten what happened to all Unsents.

After death, if the person became Unsent, pyreflies gathered around the body and formed a solid copy of the original, and then the soul, the life force, the memories were poured into the new. It was their choice what to do with that body, then. He explained this to the others.

"Wait, what's a life force?" Tidus asked.

"It's…hmm. It's the endless energy that your body and soul draw from. It's like your license to exist. Without it, you cease to do so."

"So…that's like, your memories and stuff?"

"No," Auron said. "It doesn't determine who you turn out to be—just that you _can_ turn into that person at all. It doesn't change your memories and personality and appearance. It just lets you exist, understand?" The difference was that the life force and the soul and body needed each other to exist, but not to change each other. After explaining that, the boy got it.

"Nevermind," Auron said, walking briskly over to seal away his body once more. "Let's just leave.

"Can't, ya?" Wakka said, pointing to the ceiling. "It started raining just when we got in. Real hard, too. We won't be goin anywhere for a while, looks like."

"Wait, does that mean that this place is going to flood?" Rikku looked prepared to dash from the cavern at any moment.

"That's probably what the canals are for," Auron said, pushing the coffin back into its original position. "They gather the rain from above and let it go through the canals on the way down in such a way that it gets purified, providing fresh water." The symbols began to glow in as soon as the stone was back in place. He grabbed his new sword, and they agreed to wait out the rain in the cavern, and went back to the main part.

* * *

Fire wasn't a necessity since it was relatively warm in the cavern, but they'd made one anyway. They had made refuge in one of the stone shelters, which was utterly empty, and could hear the rain beating the ground above their heads. But there was no sound of leaking water other than the miniature rivers.

Auron tried to focus on what would normally be those soothing sounds for quite some time—an hour, maybe—but found that it was useless. He still wasn't over seeing his body in the coffin, which was not even three hundred steps away from where he sat now. He felt like he would have to go back there eventually, and it was nagging at his mind to the point where this annoying flea had grown ten times.

He stood and strode from the shelter; no one's eyes followed him but Rikku's. He met her gaze for a split second before he left.

He climbed up the steep stairs, listening to the river sliding by him in the opposite direction, and entered the temple yet again; seeing the pointlessness of his visit, he took a seat on the stone mesa in the middle of the room, eventually laying on his back to close his eye and make an attempt at peace.

"Hiya," a bubbly voice said, taking a seat next to him by the sound of it. "How are you feeling?"

He didn't answer. Maybe if he pretended to be asleep, she would leave.

"You know, I was thinking," she began, "maybe if we attacked Sin while you're all super powered and everything, we might have a better chance at winning."

He opened his eye for a moment to look up at her, again without responding.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" She didn't give him the chance to decline. "Why'd you get so angry when your clone…you know, kissed me?"

He was _not_ going to answer that. His eye slid closed. There was silence, and he suddenly felt her soft fingers on his scar, feeling the tenderness of the marred skin. He let her trace it all the way down to his sealed eye, where she stopped and removed her hand.

He then felt something much softer press to his lips.

* * *

Wanna know how long that was?

26 pages. In four days total (not counting school days). That's a new record for me, I think. Yay! Expect the next chapter in two-three weeks at the very maximum. It will be relatively short, but I know exactly where I'm walking on my tightrope, so it should be done in shorter time.

**Review**. Review review review. My goodness, if I break a hundred reviews I will be the happiest girl on earth!!

OH! Random Auron Image:

Yuna: Who _are_ you texting?!

Auron: Idk, my bff, Kinoc?

There you go. Muaha.

-Ari Elisianete


	17. This First Is a Last

It's here.

**To all you fangirls/boys**, I _like_ the sound barrier, so please don't break it. Squeals are capable of doing that, you know.

* * *

The moment that Rikku had kissed him, she knew that she had made a mistake. Auron went completely still, inhaling ever so slightly in surprise. She began to pull away in defeat, but a hand on her neck completely stopped her retreat before she had even moved two inches.

Auron opened his eye to search her face. Rikku's heart sank; he was getting ready to scold her, to tell her how what she had just done was highly inappropriate and had invaded his personal space. She waited guiltily for that low voice to show disappointment in her, hovering awkwardly not even two inches above his piercing eye. It locked on hers, and she braced herself—

…for the wrong thing. He abruptly pulled her lips back to his and before she knew it, Auron—the legendary guardian, the emotionless ice cube—was kissing back.

He slid his other arm from his coat and around her waist, pulling her closer. He felt like close wasn't close enough anymore; Rikku had to be as close to him as possible, and then he still wouldn't be satisfied. But then he realized that if he held her that strongly, that tightly, he would be acting just like his clone and she would want to get away. He loosened his grip and sat up so she wouldn't have to hover over him anymore, and this time he wrapped his arms around her in away that would enable her to break the kiss—this wonderful, amazing kiss—at any time. She deserved that much respect at the very least.

But she kissed him as if she never wanted to end it, and Auron had to agree with her. The moment that it did end he would surely mourn. His lips moved with hers in patterns that he had no hope of remembering, and one hand slid up to her neck where his finger made small circles around her pulse, savoring her genuine heartbeat, the feeling of her blood being forced through her veins instead of running through them in a smooth current. He admired that, envied the life that she held. Was this moment a dream? They broke the kiss briefly for a breath of air before his lips found hers again, caressing them with pent-up passion. At any second he would wake up and curse silently to himself about his wishful fantasies. But no, the feeling of her filling his arms, her soft lips under his, was undeniably and deliciously real. Maybe, if he stayed here for her, he could get past the deathday, the lack of a heartbeat, the envy.

_**You're thinking irrationally again.**_

Ahh, there was this voice's flaw: appearing at the worst moments.

_**You're not that strong, Auron,**_ said the voice. _**You can't resist the longing for the life that all living hold. As the years go by you will watch her grow old and eventually die, while time will never touch you. You are virtually immortal, living forever until you are sent, and soon enough not even your love will be able to hold off the envy for her ability to die at all. One day, however long it will take, you will round on her and hurt her beyond repair.**_

But he would never do that. Never. It wasn't humanely possible for him to purposely do her any harm, to hurt her in any way.

_**You're hurting her now.**_

Auron broke the kiss abruptly, and in a flash he was on the other side of the room near the entrance. Rikku fell forward in surprise before she caught herself, stopping her descent with her arms, panting. He closed his eye and breathed deeply to cover his own shortness of breath. He put the pieces together for the second time that day. He wasn't _physically_ hurting her, but by kissing her he was promising her that he was going to be with her, that he wouldn't leave.

But he had to, didn't he? That was what made it a stinging, wordless lie.

A hollow feeling replaced the happiness that he had felt not moments ago, leaving him feeling empty yet weighed down. He turned away. "We should get back," he said, ducking out the door.

As he descended the long flight of steps down to the level that the others were on, he felt her hand slip into his. His heart gave one involuntary flip and beat before skipping several.

It didn't start again.

* * *

She let go as she darted into their little shelter, waving to everyone. They halfway ignored her, murmuring hellos. Auron leaned against the wall strategically near the door so he could duck out when no one was paying attention to him, closing his eye so he wouldn't set someone on fire with his angry inward glare. He felt the emptiest sort of anger—the kind that circled in its cage, unable to be released or satisfied.

_**There's another room here, you kn—**_

_Don't talk to me,_ Auron snapped, poison laced through the thought. There was quite the silence from it before the voice spoke again.

_**I'm sorry,**_ it said, _**I know how precious those moments were to you.**_

No apology could replace the heavy feeling in his heart, the weight that made him want to sink to the ground, through the floor so he could hide like a wounded animal that wanted to lick its wounds in peace. He couldn't believe it. He had, for a few short moments, tasted happiness and peace. He had seen _light_, and his eyes could not adjust again to his usual darkness when it had left. The only thing that would comfort him now was the light's return.

He did sink to the floor, though not in the dismayed manner that he would have otherwise demonstrated. The anger returned, snarling and pacing about its prison in a grudging defeat. There, just beyond the shadows of its dark shackles, just out of reach was the light.

What was he thinking? He wasn't a poet; those weren't his words. Still, just like his still heart, it was a good comparison.

_I despise you,_ he thought, not sure if he was directing the hate at himself or the much uninvited guest in his head. When the voice responded, however, it sounded as though it was trying to cover up the fact that it was hurt.

_**That is…fine.**_

Auron smiled and looked up. Everyone seemed to shrink away from his gaze as if they knew that he would absolutely maim the next person who gave him a funny look. They were all tired, maybe even hungry. He saw it in all of their faces. When his sight crossed Rikku's, however, it was he who looked away.

"You hungry?" she asked Yuna, who nodded.

"A little."

Rikku leaned forward and down to press her ear to the floor, listening for the rain. "It's still pouring out there," she announced, leaning back with a sigh. "And we don't have much food left, do we?"

Tidus shook his head. "Nope. Last night we ran out without knowing it."

She patted her belly, imagining its constant growling coming an hour later, probably sooner. "That's what sucks about our job. You don't get any _food_."

"So you learn to thrive off of your surroundings." Auron reached up to a star-shaped cyan crystal above him, moving on a hollow autopilot. He tugged it from a vine that had previously gone unnoticed. The others watched as he set the five point star on two of its legs, tapping the top one with his finger. The crystal seemed to weaken, and suddenly from the center of the star it peeled away like the skin of an orange, revealing a light blue fruit inside. Auron peeled away the rest of the disguising "skin" and held out the finished, fresh fruit for all to see.

"Paupu fruit," he said. "The crystal is a seal that keeps the fruit fresh, and is also a poisoned coating that kills anyone that tries to eat the Paupu without removing the coating first. However, once removed the fruit inside is completely edible."

He tossed it to Rikku, who caught it like a pro with one hand, and then he reached up and exposed more of the exotic fruit, tossing one to each of his comrades. "Try it."

It was sweet yet sour and very juicy. They had to keep wiping their chins with their sleeves as the juices came out in unexpected bursts of sweet fluid when they bit down.

"Arn 'yu gonna 'ave any?" Rikku asked, her mouth completely full. It took Auron a moment to understand what she was trying to say, and then he shook his head. "I don't need to," he lied. He just wasn't hungry, not at the moment. She gulped, swallowing fast and hard. She lifted her hands to her mouth and bit on air, her teeth snapping together as she discovered that she had finished her share. Looking up at him with an angelic grin, she wordlessly persuaded him to fetch more. As he left, she leaned back against the wall and a strange question entered her mind.

"Do you think Auron had feelings at one point?" she asked.

"Nah," Tidus replied, "He's been an emotionless stiff his whole life."

"Not feelings as in _emotions_, feelings as in…" she paused, suppressing a blush, "…for someone?" Shoot! Her voice had gotten guiltily high at that last part.

The guardians exchanged glances, each with a raised eyebrow. They couldn't imagine a person like him falling in love.

"No," they all concluded at once, going back to eating their fruit.

* * *

Reina folded her hands across her lap, her cold, red lacquered fingernails sticking out like claws. It made the men before her nervous. Through her folds of snow-white hair she looked into each of their eyes with her own crimson, sometimes narrowing them when she found something she didn't like in one of the lords sitting to either side of the table. She loomed over them in her throne-like chair, red and white designs painted and carved abound on the structure. The seat of power. She smiled to herself.

Right now all of the men were ignoring her, discussing the prized Auron's fate—how they would acquire him after he had been sent, what they would do with him. She didn't listen. Those fools could turn over their plans in their tiny little heads as much as they wanted, but Reina already knew what she was going to do.

Upon being sent, she would snatch him up like a child and an abandoned puppy. She would keep him away from all three groups: Ender, whose plans were unknown as of that moment; Bahamut and the other fayth, who would only keep him isolated until "the time was right for him to emerge"; and the other Farplane Lords, the six stupid men sitting before her now. Who knows what they would do? She was the lesser or four evils but, as much as she hated to admit it, Auron would still be fine if he went with Bahamut and the others.

He would be a changed person, though.

Her eyes swiveled over to the two guests leaning in the corner, talking quietly with each other and occasionally glancing at the moronic mass in front of them. What were their names? Ahh, yes—Elayne and Edward.

Reina felt a small pang at the back of her head, an alarm, a warning. She closed her eyes, and the images began to flash by.

The airship—the one that Auron's comrades used—was flying straight at Sin. Something unfolded at the bottom of the huge machina, pointing at the monster as particles began to gather around the point of the lance-like object. A beam shot from it, crashing into Sin and blowing its left arm clean off.

She opened her eyes, for there was nothing more to see. Standing up, she stepped down from her throne and walked so gracefully around the table that she appeared to be gliding, catching the eye of everyone in the room.

"Did you see something, milady?" one of the Lords asked. She chuckled, her voice naturally seductive when she was as calm as she was now. He didn't get a response as she left the room through the towering double doors, her silent footsteps carrying her away. Auron and his comrades were launching their attack tomorrow.

She had foreseen it.

* * *

Auron returned with his arms full of the crystal enveloped fruit. He also had a glare on his face.

"Not only do I have emotions," he said, "but I also have enhanced hearing." He dropped the fruit at the middle of the floor by the fire and went back to lean against the wall. The others kept their heads down in guilt as they reached for a piece. If Auron hadn't been in a bad mood before, he certainly was in one now.

"Rikku," he said slowly, "E's hud sygehk yho bnusecac."

Her eyes widened before she looked down at the cyan fruit in her hands, squeezing them shut. He'd just told her that he wasn't making any promises. "Hu bnusecac, rir?" She replied in the same language, so she wouldn't have to worry about the others listening. "Oui'na hud ajah kuehk du dno du cdyo?"

He paused. "Vun ajanouh'a cyga," he said, "E'mm dno. Ed femm pa rynt, pid E femm dno du cdyo."

He ducked out of the shelter before she could leap up and give him a major hug. She considered following him so she could do just that, but instead she smiled down at the Paupu before lifting it and taking a bite.

"Since when does Auron know Al Bhed?" Tidus asked, taking a chunk of the fruit big enough to make him choke. Rikku didn't care about when he'd learned it, only about what he'd said.

_For everyone's sake, I'll try. It will be hard, but I will try to stay._

* * *

"It's…a library."

Auron said this aloud, even though he was talking to a voice in his head (gee, that sounded sane).

_**And those are books,**_ said the voice, pointing out the obvious.

Looming before him were towering stone shelves of books, archives, papers, etcetera— each had designs on the sides that were nothing but eye candy. The room was massive enough to hold every subject from blitzball to Yevonism.

_**But that's not what they're about.**_

Auron began to walk forward, eventually stopping at what seemed like the center of the room, in a circular clearing that was free of the smell of dry paper and ink dust.

_**These books—they all cover one subject only.**_

_And that would be?_ Auron turned down one of the aisles and pulled a random book from its place. The moment that his eye laid on the title was the moment that the voice gave him an answer.

_**Death,**_ it said. _**Theories made by the living about what life in the Farplane is like, what pyreflies seem to be made of, general guesses made by the moronic masses. And then there are the real accounts, the real stories and explanations made by Unsents over the centuries. On the left side of the room sits the living archives, while on the right side is the true story. You're on the right side.**_

Centuries, indeed. Auron opened the random book to and equally random page—earning many cracks of protest from the spine—and quickly scanned its contents. What he read made his face heat as he progressed:

_The dead are not meant to give life; they can only take it away. They can only give pain, not relieve it. Such is the case of pregnancy; it matters not if the woman is dead or alive, nor does it the man. In all cases the child is born cleanly, perfectly, but dead. All children that were produced from the dead are born with the same condition, born still—_

Auron slammed the book shut and shoved it back into its place on the shelf, mortified. Dust scattered from his force and a memory echoed in his eye, unable to be pushed away.

_Auron walked off, climbing the steep hill to the highest point of Guadosalam. For some reason, the girl—Rikku—had followed him._

"_So, you got any brothers or sisters?"_

_It appeared that she was prepared to interview him. "No." He answered a little more curtly than he had intended. She was only curious, after all._

"_I got an older brother, myself," she continued, not phased by his bluntness. "I wish I had some little brothers and sisters, though."_

_Auron chuckled. "Ask your parents."_

"_Can't," she said softly, looking down and hoisting herself up to sit on the thick railing. "Mom died…a machina went on rampage…"_

_Auron blinked, his version of astonishment. He stayed silent, unsure of what to say. Then, just as the summer breeze fades and returns, she perked up again._

"_When I get married, I'm gonna have lots of kids!" she told him. "That way they'll all have brothers and sisters!" She paused and gave him a weird look. "What?"_

"_You're talking about your future."_

_She grinned, showing her pearly whites. "Well, not all of us are being depressing and thinking about death all the time."_

"_Already labeled me, have you?"_

_She blushed and looked at her swinging feet. "Sorry."_

_He chuckled again, waving the unintentional insult away. "You're going to fit in with the others _just_ fine."_

Auron turned and leaned back against the shelf, the heaviness in his heart returning. Even if he were to stay, even if Rikku returned his feelings—unlikely, he knew; that kiss had only been from a girl who had wanted one from a fading man—he would not be able to give her what she would eventually want most: a child. All he could give her was pain, sadness. Disappointment, never pride or joy.

He wondered if he'd just discovered the true meaning of heartache, because his heart sure did ache just then. He sat, still leaning against the bookshelf.

Why did all the odds have to be against him, all of the biggest obstacles in between him and happiness? It seemed as though every single factor in his existence was trying with utmost strength to deny him everything he wanted. It was cruel, it was torture—it wasn't fair.

But life wasn't fair. And he was Auron, legendary guardian, Unsent, a man who was _tougher_ than nails and could get the spit beaten out of him and still get up in the end. People all over the world knew his name and praised him for being a survivor, a hero.

He grunted. If only they knew. A hero was someone you would look up to even after their grueling past was revealed, their deeds—good or bad—laid out for all to judge. He was no hero, and his pain was not the pain of a survivor. It was that of a broken creature named Auron.

He stood and headed toward the exit, ignoring the many protests from the voice. He was in no mood to discover what other horrible traits there were to him; some things were best left unsaid, unknown. This was one of those things.

_**Turn around, Auron.**_

In spite of himself, he did. He found himself staring straight at black, and he looked up to see a transformed Unsent looming over him, fangs and claws at the ready, wings unfurled. Its lips were drawn back, revealing about thirty two ways to rip something to shreds. He blinked.

With blinding speed it lashed out, aiming for his head with its teeth. Just as fast Auron leaped back, dodging with a lot of time to spare before it recovered. Golden eyes locked on russet, and Auron dodged again as it shot forward with its claws clapped together, attempting to pierce his stomach so it could rip him in half.

Where was his sword? Back with the others. In a split second he made a decision and turned around, dashing out of the double door entrance to the library. Behind him he heard the Unsent leap into the air, pushing down with its wings in pursuit. It let out an earsplitting shriek, and Auron saw the others on the west side of the cave dash out of the shelter. It only took them a total of two seconds before they realized what was happening and they were ready for a fight. Seeing the team ready to rumble, he called out.

"Tidus, Rikku, catch!" he cried, skidding to a stop and using the backward momentum to leap into the air and grab the creature's head, pivot in midair, and hurl the mass at the two. "Kimahri, my sword!"

Rikku lunged forward with a punch to the bulk of the creature's back, stopping it completely so Tidus could jump up and slash across the still tender spot from Rikku's blow. Kimahri emerged from the shelter and called Auron's name, who was still in the process of landing from his jump. He threw the sword like a throwing knife but horizontally, and for a moment everyone thought that it was going to slice the man in half. Auron landed quickly and slid to the side, catching the weapon as it passed.

Moving on a sort of autopilot that he sank into when he knew that a fight was going to be easy, he launched forward and covered a forty to fifty foot distance with a stellar time, leaping to the front of the group.

"What's going on?" Tidus asked, raising his sword as the creature began to recover, stumbling to a stance.

"What's it look like?" Auron shot forward and delivered a blow to his opponent, then kicked off of its chest and flipped back to his original position.

"It looks like you woke something up, and it ain't to happy about it!"

"N—" Auron stopped, thinking it over. "Actually, that pretty much hits the nail on the head."

"These things sure love to pick fights, don't they?" Rikku said, then instantly bit her tongue when Auron shot her a glance. "Uhh…"

Auron switched his wielding hand to his left and pushed off, grabbing a hold of the creature's forehead and smashing its skull to the floor. "News flash," Auron said, "I'm dead, too."

Its eyes widened before it kicked at him, sending him flying across the room to crash into the wall. The jolt was enough to snap Auron out of the trance that comes after getting hit _really_ hard, and he landed without falling to the floor. His opponent smiled, then spoke in a scratchy voice that sounded as if words weren't meant to leave that mouth.

"Funny," it said, "you _smell_ alive."

Auron stood paralyzed and the others converged on the Unsent at the same time, overwhelming it. A punch to the skull by Rikku, a blow from Wakka's blitzball, and a swing from Tidus were delivered before they leaped back to make way for somewhat of a finale—that is, Lulu's powerful Flare spells.

As soon as the smoke cleared Auron was back in the battle and the creature's attention was on him only. The others backed up and watched their fellow guardian dodge each swing smoothly, ducking and stepping to the side.

"Yuna," Rikku said, "if we attack Sin while Auron's all super Unsent and everything, we might have a better chance of winning, you know?"

Yuna watched as he evaded every swipe of his opponent's claws with ease, and suddenly appeared behind it. Leaping into the air, he brought his sword down upon the thing's head and sliced. The weapon went all the way through, and when it hit the floor with a clang the monster fell apart in two equal halves.

The others grimaced, Yuna stepped forward, and Auron stepped back. Before Yuna could begin the sending a black smoke began to peel off of the creature's skin, lifting into the air where it faded away without a scent. The entire corpse seemed to burn away, and within minutes the body was gone. Even the black blood left over on Masamune faded away. As Auron's adrenaline faded with it, his dismay returned.

* * *

"Planning to use me as a weapon, are you?"

First Rikku, now his summoner. Who next, Tidus?

"Come on, old man!" the boy begged. "You're just what we need to win."

This was the second time that Auron had been put on the front line instead of fighting alongside everyone. It almost angered him. Still, it was a good idea; his current strength would increase their chances of winning significantly.

"If we attack while I am still this way," Auron said, "then we have to do it soon."

"How soon? Any time's good!"

"Tomorrow."

The others gaped, and Tidus's voice shrank. "Tomorrow…?"

"I have no idea when I'll lose my power," Auron continued. "I've lost several traits already, and the day after I lose everything is the day when I'll become very weak—hardly capable of fighting. Because of that, tomorrow is our best bet."

"But—" Tidus got a far off look in his eyes, and he realized why the boy was so reluctant. He hadn't thought of a way to save himself, to make himself real. He wanted time.

He then thought about himself. What would he do after they had defeated Sin?

_**You will be sent.**_

…Right. If he stayed on Spira it would only bring more bad than good.

"And…I doubt that Jecht can stay in control for much longer. We might as well—" he paused, a bad taste on the words, "—put him out of his misery."

He forced a laugh. "I'd try talking to the man myself, but I'm not sure that I can."

Tidus nodded once. "Tomorrow, then. We should get it over with." The others mumbled in agreement.

"Geez," Rikku said, "You all sound so happy about it. It's not like we're all going off to die!"

Tidus shuffled his feet and Auron cleared his throat. Rikku's eyes locked fiercely on his face.

"I thought you said you were going to try to stay!" she cried, disappointment evident in her tone.

"I also said that I wasn't making any promises," Auron replied, trying to brush away the subject. She kept it going.

"That's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair."

"Well, the last time I checked you didn't have a life," she retorted. She stuck out her hand. "So cough up the fairness!"

"Oui yna y camvecr meddma kenm."

"And you're an unfair, big…dead guy!"

"Uh, if I can interrupt," Tidus said, wincing when all three angry eyes locked on him in an attempt to burn holes in his skin. "Auron, where _were_ you just now?"

* * *

They had pretty much the same reaction to the library as he had. Sort of like, "Mmkay, books."

"Don't read any of them," Auron ordered, keeping a careful eye on Rikku as she dashed down the same aisle as he had.

"Why not?" she asked, pulling out a random book and opening it to a random page. Scanning it, her face began to turn so red that it was almost unhealthy. "_Oh_…" Unfortunately the book that she had selected turned out to be the same one as before. She pushed it back into its place, trying to act casual even though her heated cheeks betrayed her embarrassment. All kiddos born still, huh? Well, it wasn't like Auron would ever—oh…my. _Push _those_ thoughts out of your head, Rikku, before your chest explodes_. She was sure her face got redder.

"I think I might have been here before now," Auron said. "There's another room at the back, if I remember correctly."

She dashed in said direction, a sorry attempt to hide her flustered state.

* * *

Did her mind _have_ to be in the gutter, now of all times?

As soon as she entered she squealed as several thousand images popped into her mind at once and her face burst into flames. They were big, they were rectangular, and they had blankets. And there were four of them.

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked, rushing in. Rikku yelped as her cousin's sudden appearance and immediately disguised it as another squeal.

"_Beds!_" she cried, testing her acting skills as she ran over to the one furthest to the left and pounced on it. It felt as soft as the clouds that Auron had shown her had looked—GAH! Don't think about him! She hugged the pillow to cover her face. "Oh, fluffy pillow, I have missed you so!"

"I didn't think you would be so excited about having a bed to sleep in," Auron said. "Besides, there are only four. Some will have to share."

Her eyes snapped open. "Huhr?"

"Let's see," Yuna began, "I have no problem sleeping with Lulu, and I'm sure Tidus is fine with Wakka." She looked to the blonde, who shrugged. "Kimahri is big enough to take up an entire bed, and that leaves—"

"Rikku, who will have one to herself," Auron finished.

"What, are you afraid that you'll roll over and crush me or something?" Rikku said, laughing at the image.

"I'm not tired."

She rolled her eyes in the pillow. "Right." _She_ was tired, though. It had taken most of the day to cross the rest of the Calm Lands and find the cave, and they had woken up late that morning in addition to those hours. Her weariness, which she had learned to suppress, surfaced and took over, and soon she was sure that she would fall asleep. "Have fun with the watch that we don't need, then."

He chuckled, a low sound that made her curl tighter against the pillow since she wasn't watching him make it. She heard footsteps stride away and remained conscious just long enough to crawl under the blankets.

* * *

Maybe some things should be uncovered, should be known for the sake of knowledge.

Auron strolled through the right side of the library, scanning the titles of thousands of handwritten books and records absently. He wanted to pick one up and start reading, but it must have been the fear that he would discover something awful that kept him from doing so. The titles were blunt and must have represented exactly what was on the pages.

That was a good thing, he thought, as he crossed a title of a subject he already knew a bit about. "Life Forces." He pulled it out, and began to struggle with reading the scratch that was the writer's handwriting.

_Life forces are not your souls, your memories. They are your existence, you life force. A life force is an endless energy that supplies your body and soul with the strength to exist. Even people in the Farplane have them._

He already knew this. Skip.

—_exchangeable. If I were to give someone my life force, my memories and personality and body would not be carried over._

Auron backtracked, his eye widening.

_These energies are completely exchangeable. If I were to give someone my life force, my memories and personality and body would not be carried over. The person I would've donated to would be completely unchanged. For example, say someone's life force was damaged (it can happen) and I wanted to give them mine; we would exchange them. But I would inherit the damaged energy. A sacrifice like that can only be made if the donator is willing to give, and the receiver is in need of the gift._

Auron's heart would have stopped if it had been beating in the first place. Exchange…an eye for an eye. _He knew how to save Tidus._

He smiled and put the book back where it belonged, silently thanking the author. Striding back to the room where is comrades were asleep, he leaned against the wall and watched Rikku sleep for the last time. Then, silently, he formed three words on his lips just to see what it felt like.

It felt good.

* * *

Wow. I'd expected this chapter to be around seven pages, but it's twice that.

Announcement!: I just brought Final Fantasy XII, but I promise not to play it until I finish this fic. I swear on my honor as a…uh…Aurikku writer?

And apparently I'm now addicted to the song "Hold Your Color" by Pendulum. Weird, huh? It's also a fun song to write fight scenes to; that song and Spitfire by The Prodigy. One's more badass, and one's more fast-paced.

Also, pay attention to the chapter titles. I name them weird things for a reason, doncha'no.

OOH! This random Auron Image is a long one: (**BEWARE of mass cussing**, and the fact that you won't get it if you haven't watched South Park. But it's still funny.)

Auron: This is all Yunalesca's fault! If Yunalesca hadn't started that 'tradition,' Braska wouldn't be dead!

Yunalesca: Shut up, Auron!

Auron:...Weeeeeellllll—

Yunalesca: Don't do it, Auron!

Auron: … Weeeeeeeeeeeelllllll—

Yunalesca: I'm warning you!

Auron: walks off Okay, okay.

Yunalesca: (To the others) I'm getting pretty sick of him calling me a—

Auron: _WELLLL_

Yunalesca's a bitch, she's a big fat bitch,

She's the biggest bitch in the whole wide world,  
She's a stupid bitch, if there ever was a bitch  
She's a bitch to all the sum-mon-ers!

Yunalesca: Shut your fucking mouth, Auron!

Auron: On Monday she's a bitch, on Tuesday she's a bitch,  
On Wednesday through Saturday she's a bitch,  
Then on Sundays, just to be different,  
She's a super King Kamehameha BEEATCH!

Come on, everyone! You know the words!

Everyone: Have you ever met my friend Yunalesca,  
She's the biggest bitch in the whole wide world,  
She's a mean old bitch, and she has stupid hair,  
She's a bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch...

Auron: Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch, she's a stupid bitch!

All of Spira: WOO!

Auron: Yunalesca's a bitch, and she's such a dirty bitch!

All of Spira: Bitch!

-Ari Elisianete


	18. Oww, What the Hell?

Barely 11 pages...

Everyone. Sorry for the three week wait…here's the story behind it…

Mmkay, so my bighugemajor secret is that I have serious hemophobia (Bwarhar, I originally said homophobia...I didn't know I was afraid of gays xD) (for those that don't know, _hemophobia _(gigglesnort...homophobia...don't you just love it when Word doesn't catch mistakes?) is an irrational fear of blood). About three weeks ago I saw something that made me have a panic attack _because_ of this fear; I won't go into it, but for some reason I just couldn't write after that. I kept opening up Word and staring at it for twenty minutes without doing anything. I think I wasn't able to write because I have a few fight scenes this chapter. Fight equals blood. So please, forgive me if this chapter royally sucks. I need time to recover, so expect delays. Please, please be patient.

And review. (heh…)

* * *

_Auron glanced toward the inner wall of Bevelle, resisting the urge to complain at the distance it was from them. As they continued to make their way down the moderately busy streets, Kinoc grinned over at him._

"_Cheer up," he said, reaching to adjust the angle of the gun hanging on his back. "At least we don't have drills today. Yevon knows what the commanders would do to us!" He laughed. "I sure feel sorry for the guys back at—hey, Auron? Helloooo?"_

"_Sorry, what?" He hadn't been paying any attention, obviously._

"_Got your mind on something else, eh?"_

_Auron lowered his voice, eyeing down the alleys and streets. "Look at these people."_

_Kinoc followed his gaze, and his smile vanished as he analyzed his surroundings for the first time. There were people sitting on the sidewalks and leaning against alley walls, their eyes sunken into their skulls in starvation. The clothes on their backs were torn in various degrees. The two men's eyes passed over a woman holding a child that wore only a small cloth around its lower body, revealing its swollen stomach—a discomfort also born of lack of food. It was silent in sleep, and the mother looked up and met their eyes. Auron never thought that he would see such a hopelessness in a woman's gaze, such a tired surrender reflected in the depths. It felt wrong to him, somehow. He looked away quickly, toward the ground._

"_Probably survivors from Sin's latest attack," Kinoc muttered. "Homeless, now."_

"_Something should be done," he said. "They should be given food, shelter—"_

"_And they will," said Kinoc. "As soon as Mika gets around to it."_

"_Mika will never 'get around to it.'" Auron kicked a stray pebble from his path. "Time repeats itself. Sin is killed and reborn to kill again, and this is what happens every time." He dared not gesture to the scattered people for the sake of respect. "The least anyone could do is help the living keep doing so."_

"_But time repeats itself, you say." Kinoc sighed. "So I guess we're stuck in a cycle of carelessness." There was a long silence between the two._

"_I wish I had drills," said Auron._

* * *

Last minute business sucks, especially when walking next to someone as quiet as _him_. And in Bevelle, too, with the others not around! It was worse today; Auron was more withdrawn, maybe even shy if someone wanted to define it that way. Rikku could practically hear the gears in his mind whirring, spinning around only one concept. It wasn't that he couldn't think in more than one direction—she knew that he could, duh—but that he had been given one thing to think about, which was the only thing to ponder at the moment. Besides Sin. And Jecht. And pretty much every other inconvenience in the world—okay, _what_ was he thinking about that was so mind-consuming that he refused to talk? 

She tried asking, but he muttered something unintelligible that effectively ended the "conversation." Crossing her arms and trying not to pout, she looked up at the clouds and tried to distract herself by making shapes out of them. She almost fell flat on her face when she tripped over a stray rock in the street, but caught herself quickly and flushed with involuntary anger, a sudden desire to not act stupid in front of Auron rising. He didn't even blink, but his eye did flicker toward her.

She looked behind her to glare at the rock when she saw a small boy following after them. She kept her eyes front for a few steps before glancing back again—he was still following.

"Something wrong?" Wow. The first time he had really spoken all day. He looked back and stopped, letting the child come to him. The boy hesitated, but upon looking at Rikku he closed most of the rest of the space. Auron squatted to get to eye level.

"I've done everything I'm supposed to, I think," said the boy. "I said goodbye to everyone. That's what we're supposed to do, right?"

Auron nodded and the boy asked, "So what do I do now?"

"Just…" Auron paused, trying to find the right words, "let go."

The child closed his eyes, and to Rikku's horror a small pyrefly floated from him. He yelped and jumped back, but after Auron's reassurance he continued the self-sending. He stood slowly, watching the last of the boy's soul float away and vanish in a dozen pieces.

"Well, obviously the poor little kid was dead, but why'd he come to you?" Rikku asked, still shaken. She didn't think that it was possible for children to go half-dead, but maybe it was possible for even kids to form bonds with the world.

"Unsents are supposed to help each other solve our problems and move on," Auron explained. "Because I've been around this long, most naturally come to me."

He sighed. "Let's meet up with the others."

Rikku trotted up to him and kept with his pace. "What if there was, like, this head-Unsent guy? A person you always go to when you need help like that kid?"

"I don't have enough power to do that," he said. "I couldn't handle that sort of job, and you know it."

"I didn't mean _you_," she lied. Well, it had been worth a try.

* * *

"Well," said Cid, "this is it, eh?" 

"Yu Yevon's hiding somewhere inside Sin, and we're gonna find him." Tidus looked out the window as if he was searching for Sin himself.

"Well, that sounds pretty simple."

"Simple is the way you like it, right?"

Cid grinned. "You got that right."

"Pops!" Rikku jumped into her seat at the right of the main controls. "I'm countin' on you!"

"Right, got you covered."

Cid walked over to the mass of panels on the right and tapped a few keys. They heard machina whirr under their feet as a huge speaker unfolded and, after a minute, began to play the hymn of the fayth. The guardians gave triumphant smiles, and Yuna put a hand over her heart as she listened to the song that had had so much meaning in the past—and so much purpose now. "How's that?"

"Right on!" Rikku bounced in her seat and clapped with delight.

"A singing ship in the sky," said Lulu, shaking her head in what seemed to be disbelief. Wakka glanced at her.

"I hope everyone got the message," he said.

_I hope Jecht _gets_ the message,_ thought Auron, blinking with slight surprise at the first thought he'd had all day that hadn't anything to do with Rikku's kiss.

"_SIN_!"

Brother leaped up in his chair, pointing wildly at the clouds before them. All the guardians looked to the front at once, and there loomed the massive creature—the enemy and terror of all Spira—suspended still in midair. The airship jerked to a stop and beeps were heard as its targeting system locked on the front of the beast's mouth.

"All right!" Tidus cried, "We're going in!"

"How we gonna get inside?" asked Wakka, earning a quick grin from Tidus.

"The easy way, how else?"

Rikku stepped up from her spot at the controls, making her "grimacing" pose. "Figures."

"Well, let's go!" Huh. Auron had never defined Lulu as an impatient person. Tidus nodded to her and the others rushed from the room. Just as Tidus hit the doorway, Cid called out.

"Hey, how you planning on gettin' inside?"

He stopped. "If we can't get in through the mouth, we'll rip open a new one!" he announced. "You with me?"

Cid cracked up at the sane insanity of the whole idea. "Now that's what I call a plan!"

"Vydran! E ghuf fryd du ica!" Brother began to mash keys on his control panel like a madman.

"Aha! Of course!" said Cid.

"Of course." Tidus pretended to know what Brother had just told him.

"Alright," Cid turned back to Tidus. "We'll give that thing a new blowhole. All you gotta do it jump. And I won't tell you to be careful—do your worst, kiddo!"

"Roger!" Tidus began to charge out the door, but was stopped once more.

"Fyed!" Oh, oh! He knew what that meant! It was "wait"…right?

Brother appeared to be struggling with his words. "Rikku," he said, "you…guard."

Tidus glanced back out the door. "Will do," he replied, "but I think Auron's already got that covered."

Without another word he dashed out the door, hearing Cid make a seriously surprised sound on the way out.

* * *

Rikku stared over the edge of the ship in obvious delight. "I can hear the song!" 

Lulu glided past. "Yes, I can hear the hymn, too."

"They listened to us!"

"We won't let them down," Tidus vowed in a determined tone. He walked to the edge of the ship as Rikku left her place to go stand next to Auron. The elder guardian drew a deep breath.

"Well," he said quietly, freeing his other arm and leaning Masamune against his side, "it's time to fly."

Pulling the back of his coat down a little more, Rikku caught sight of the small slits that she had cut for his wings. In a flash they shot through the small openings, unfurling to their full, ten-foot-each length. The others gaped at the white masses as they folded neatly against his back. Swinging Masamune up to balance on his shoulder, he found that it fit between the gap.

So distracted they were by the sight that when the airship gave a lurch, they were all sent scrambling for balance. They whipped around just in time to see Sin charging some sort of attack.

A transparent ball containing purple streaks grew then shrank in front of its mouth, gaining strength as it did so. The ball began to grow and brighten while the air rippled with energy, sending shocks down the warriors' spines and forcing them all to their knees. Sin tipped its head and energy toward the sky, the clouds parting for the mass. Below the sea began to churn, waves leaping from their place. Sin opened its mouth and roared, and the guardians realized that it was surrounding itself with a shield.

And with a bang that rocked the world Sin let the energy fly forward, ravaging the landscape that it touched; it made a half-tube in the land and sea as it moved.

Each guardian rose slowly and shakily, recovering from shock. Had that been some sort of power showcase? Rikku looked around at the world, which had suddenly grown silent. Even the hymn had ceased to play from both the speaker and the throats of Spirans around the world. Gazing last at the trench that Sin had made, she thought she saw something at the end.

The water, also recovering from shock, was beginning to rain back down into the long pit with natural force as strong as Sin itself. Everyone quickly turned and fled back toward the top airship floor's entrance as soon as explosions hit the land, but they were all caught in the earthquake and were forced to the floor once more.

The explosions died down and Tidus sat up, staring practically right at Sin's face. "Damn you, old man…"

"Ey!" Cid called through the speaker below, "I saw something shiny on Sin's arm—I reckon it's a weak spot!"

How many times was the airship going to lurch on the point of throwing them off?

"Cruud!" cried Brother.

"What, what?!"

"Fa yna bimmat po Sin!"

"Sin's pulling us in!" Rikku translated, adjusting her claw on her arm with anticipation.

"Everyone, back inside!" Cid ordered, but Brother's voice interrupted him again.

"Duu myda! Ed lusac!"

Sin banked, coming dangerously close to the ship.

"I'm willing to bet that there's another weak spot on the other side," Auron said, turning to everyone. "I'll go destroy that one—you all take the left, I'll take the right."

They all nodded and watched as he ran forward and leaped straight off of the airship, his wings unfurling and catching the air. They pushed down and he soared higher, shooting up and over Sin to the other side.

There was indeed a shiny spot at the base of Sin's arm; Lulu began to charge a spell and Wakka readied his blitzball.

"Move us in, pops!" Rikku ordered. The ship gave a small shake before it glided ever to fly precariously close to their target. Upon closer examination, the skin around the purple gem-like spot flapped in regular intervals, giving it the appearance of…breathing. Yeah, it was definitely a weak spot. Kimahri got there first, driving his spear straight at the middle only to hit a strange force field; there was a crack of energy and he was blown back to skid on his feet to a stop some ten feet away.

"Is there a shield around it?"

They looked up to see Auron hovering overhead. "Yeah," Tidus yelled over the wind.

"There's one on my side, too."

He dropped and landed smoothly, folding his wings. "Any ideas?"

"Hey, Lu," Wakka said, "can you cast a spell inside the shield? Maybe that'll work, ya?"

The air around the mage thickened with energy before it was released at once. Sin roared—supposedly in pain—and they assumed that it had worked.

And arc of light shot past the guardians, coming from Auron at the back of the group. It crashed into the shield with an explosion that made Lulu's flare spells look like wet firecrackers, sending wind blasting from the point of impact. What _was_ that power he was using, Rikku wondered.

Rikku charged forward and drove a good jab into the base of the purple spot, jumping back when Sin recoiled. It bumped into the ship with more force than expected—the entire machina rotated a full forty-five degrees. They all slid to the edge and grabbed a hold (except for Auron, of course, who simply let himself fall). The ship was quickly steadied and the guardians climbed back up, cursing their small sizes.

Tidus drove his sword into the weak spot and Rikku watched as Auron dove and sped through the air under Sin and up to the other side. There was soon an explosion similar to the previous—she realized that she had been listening for his attack instead of focusing. The others had already made several moves of their own, and she jumped back into the fray by attaching a grenade to the bulk of her claw and punching Sin at a dead run, burying the weapon into the spot. She leaped back just as it exploded, and that was pretty much that.

Sin shrieked and withdrew, tipping to fly away from the airship. Auron came spinning out from over the beast, gliding back to the ship.

"Ready?" Cid's voice boomed inside the control room. "Fire!"

At the bottom of the airship two long, lance-like guns unfolded and pointed ominously at Sin. At Brother's command the points of each began to gather energy in between, thinning the air for a moment. The beam shot forward with a deafening explosion, blowing Sin's left arm clean off.

"To the other side!" Cid said. "Don't be dropping off, now!"

The airship tilted and lost altitude to arc under Sin, flying a good distance away until they could turn to face the monster. The particle guns charged and fired again, and almost instantly Sin's right arm was hurtling toward the ground in a shower of blue sparks. Cid gave a whoop of joy from the speakers.

"Yee-HAW!" he laughed, "Where next?"

"Ed ec ujan," they heard Brother say. Cid's response was, naturally, "Fryd? Fa ryja uhmo pakih!" What? We have only begun!

"Pid dra syeh kih, ed ec pnugah!"

"Dr-dryd lyhhud pa!" Cid said, dismay filling his voice.

"The main gun's busted!" Rikku translated in a similar tone.

"Dangit!" Cid cried. "Everyone, back inside. Time for another plan."

"No," Tidus said, "we're going in! Every blitzer knows: when you've got the ball, you gotta score!"

Auron sighed. "Foolhardy," he commented, "but a fun plan."

He had only to step to the side to fall right off of the ship, and the others quickly followed suit. Jecht seemed to be having some control; the monster began to lose altitude so they wouldn't die upon landing. When the guardians touched down they first felt weightless then abruptly heavy as Sin began to aim to the sky.

Before them loomed another "weak spot" protected by breathing, thorned skin. Tidus charged as far as he could until he was stopped by a huge boulder rising from Sin itself—a sinspawn. The shell unfolded and green, poisonous gas poured out to reveal the plant-themed creature. Its two "arms" had four "fingers" each, which were long vines that wiggled with the desire to strangle their enemies.

As was common knowledge, plants don't do well when set on fire—so immediately after landing Lulu released several Firaga spells that she'd been charging on the way down. The others waited for the smoke to clear before they pressed in, avoiding the vine fingers as they made their hits then were forced to retreat.

The fire quickly burned the pansy to the ground, allowing them to advance. The core began to hum upon their arrival, crackling as it gathered energy for an attack. Lulu fired away.

Auron raised his sword, which abruptly began to glow. The others cleared a path as he swung vertically, sending another arc of light at the thing.

The hard armor-like skin around the core split and flew away, exposing the soft and plushy inside that was easy to tear apart, they found. Pretty soon unnamable core insides were scattered across the base of the wall on which it sat, and the core itself had done the equivalent of a surrender that was worse than the pansy before it.

The airship swooped by to let them drop to safety, and when they had settled themselves they gazed upon the fruits of their efforts: Sin, weak and plummeting toward the ground in a stream of glowing blue flecks. The airship tilted as it sailed out of the way, and they steadied themselves just in time to see Sin crashing into the northwestern part of Bevelle. Yuna gasped as a cloud of smoke billowed up, covering the monster completely. Auron winced.

"How many people just died…?" she asked.

_One hundred and forty two,_ thought Auron, though he didn't dare say it aloud. Already he could feel the souls of the dead saying something along the lines of "ow, what the hell?"

In front of him Rikku marveled at the sight of their victory and, unknowingly, Bevelle's loss.

* * *

"Vydran," Brother gasped. "E lyhhud pameaja fryd E caa!" 

"Pameaja ed, cuh," Cid replied, "drao'ja tuha ed! Ed'c rybbahehk!"

"Rikku!" Brother turned in his seat as the guardians entered. "Aqlammahd!" The girl stuck a pose.

"It's going to come back," Yuna said, stopping by her cousin, "isn't it?"

"I know," Tidus said, walking past.

"Whuut?" Cid exclaimed, whipping around. "You're kidding me!"

"No," said Tidus, "we have to beat the guy inside Sin!"

"The Crusaders would be out of the job if it was this easy, ya?" Wakka said, earning a look from Lulu.

"But it has weakened, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah!" Rikku agreed, jumping up and down and clapping. "We're winning!"

"Alright," Cid said, "I'll do what I can with the main gun." With that he left the room as quickly as possible, for some reason shooting Auron a questioning glance as he passed. He ignored it, and Yuna suddenly decided to follow the Al Bhed—naturally, Tidus followed close behind.

"Man, we must've hit that thing enough by now," Wakka mumbled. Rikku scoffed.

"Pops's machina always seem to break when you need them most."

"Relax," said Auron, who had tucked his wings away, "'We're winning.'"

"But it's a little early to start celebrating," said Lulu.

Not minutes later there was something else to think about.

"Hey," Rikku said, pointing out the window. "Hey, hey, hey! Look!"

The smoke had cleared, and Sin was moving. Brother moaned in dismay as the creature slowly righted itself, its hundreds of eyes focusing on the airship. Rikku grabbed the device used for the speakers.

"Yunie, Tidus! Come look—something's happening to Sin!"

A world or two below Sin sprouted four, feathery pinkish wings. With a growl that sounded like two stone buildings rubbing against each other, it heaved and jumped upward. It was definitely weak; that seemed to take half of its energy. With unpracticed grace it perched itself delicately on the massive Tower of Light, its many eyes following the airship as it passed.

Tidus and Yuna strode into the control room at the same time, looking more determined than ever.

"Jecht," Auron said. "He's waiting for you."

"Well, son, the main gun is still busted," Cid announced. "We can't give you any cover fire."

"Just take us in," Tidus said. "We'll do the rest!"

He paused and glanced over his comrades, who each gave him an encouraging nod.

"All right! Take us up, flush to the mouth!" Cid ordered. "And no mistakes, or I'm going to tear out that mop you call hair!"

Brother almost cowered in fear. "Trust me," he said, struggling with the language. "Me…take you there. No problem…ya?"

Uh oh. Wakka taught him how to say "ya."

"Time to show 'em what we're made of, ya?"

Darnit!

"Let's get ready to blitz!"

"Don't worry, I'll cover you!"

"My story must end as well," Auron muttered, earning looks from both Tidus and Rikku.

* * *

Sin pushed off of the Tower of Light to hover before the airship, reflected in Tidus's hatred filled eyes. It growled, and Tidus pulled out his sword. 

"I'm coming, dad."

The airship slid soundlessly toward the creature, and everyone slowly drew their weapons as the air tensed. They knew that this was the last battle before they would face the real thing, the true threat.

"Aim for the eyes," Auron said quietly. Lulu and Yuna unloaded several black magic spells in unison while Wakka hurled his blitzball at an eye, barely missing as Sin jerked from the spells.

The airship accelerated to get the close range warriors in, stopping just in time as the cover dust from the magic cleared. All of them charged at once, driving their weapons into the eye closest to them. Auron unfurled his wings and shot to the higher parts of Sin's face and began to take out the eyes there.

Rikku drew a grenade and chucked it at a cluster of eyes; the following explosion rendered them burnt and bleeding; she repeated her actions with several other "clusters" of eyes.

Sin roared at the opposition, and suddenly the guardians felt a wave of power sweep over them—it was like a giant hand was pushing down on their heads. The feeling soon disappeared, but left them all weak for a few critical moments; Auron fell about thirty feet before catching himself in the air and resuming his own attack. One by one they targeted and eliminated the eyes, struck by the occasional wave of energy but recovering well enough in the end.

What seemed like hours later, Sin sent a shockwave out that was so powerful that it pushed the airship away from it, where it was stopped by the engines and friction. It opened its mouth and shrieked, shaking and writhing in midair. The warriors watched intently, some of them wondering if Jecht was in any pain.

Smoke emerged from its skin and mouth, filling the air with a foul stench. It encased the airship until no one could see ten feet in front of them, with the exception of Sin's dropped jaw. A light began to grow between the ship and Sin, expanding until it was too bright to look—and then the light was gone, replaced by orange clouds that whizzed by as the airship sped toward Sin's open mouth.

Another flash of light revealed what seemed like an alternate universe—fluffy, yellow and blue clouds lined the sky above and below. Thousands of pyreflies floated by regularly, humming with their own energy.

They were inside Sin.

Ahead was an image of some sort—the guardians heard a familiar chuckle and the image closed the space between them; Seymour's eye opened and enveloped them all in fire. Some of them gave startled cries.

And then the fire was gone as well, replaced by an utter silence; Auron didn't bother to look back as the others were doing. There was no reason to look back anymore, no time to have regrets, room only to move forward. His fate was sealed, and so—hopefully—was Tidus's.

They spotted land—err, _ground_ soon after. It was a sea, but somehow when their feet touched the water they stayed on the surface.

"Dad!" Tidus called, "Where are you?"

"We must go to him," Auron said.

"Then we will. Let me take front."

"Good luck," Yuna said softly as Tidus passed her, heading to the front of the group.

"Follow me!"

All around them—though they didn't know it—watched thousands of restless souls, waiting for the final struggles to begin.

* * *

Again, I'm so sorry for the wait. Could someone point out the nearest pixilated dark corner to me so I can go sit there in shame? 

Random Auron image:

Dona: _Who_ are you texting?

Barthello: Idk, my idol, Auron? (insert ringtone here) Ohh, I just got a new text message!

Auron: Stp txtn me, dammit! D:

-Ari Elisianete


	19. Execution Date Is?

I'm ALIVE! Le gasp!

I'm sorry for the wait and the short length. School has been such a killer that it's begun to stab my imagination with a three-pronged spork. And you know what? Sporks hurt. So do boots to the head.

Here ya go.

* * *

_Auron turned, around and around, staring through foreign eyes at the six mirrors that made his cage. In all of them his image was reflected; six different angles, six different Aurons, all confused and searching, blurred by his constantly moving vision._

_He stopped for a moment and took a look at himself; he was taller and his frame was a little wider, more refined, stronger. His face showed the very distress that he felt, his eyes, both of them, were wide open, revealing irises that were such a lighter brown than his normal russet that they were almost gold. Startled yet feeling no such emotion, he lifted a hand to his right eye. His scar was gone…but he looked down at his left arm to find it blackened and rough as if it had been burned yet hadn't quite recovered. The skin was flaked and scarred where it had made an attempt at healing. There was pain radiating from it, somewhere. Somewhere at the back of his soul it hurt…_

_Six mirrors, six ways to see himself without seeing inside of himself. That was where he needed to see. He stumbled back and leaned on one of the mirrors, shaking as strange thoughts inserted themselves into his head._

_I am no one._

_Even if I were someone, no one would comprehend that._

_Even if they could, I couldn't communicate that to those around me…_

_According to the perspective of others, I am part of the world. But from my perspective and the others who contemplate the world, I do not exist within it._

_What I see is the world, and I am merely part of the perspective that gives shape to the world._

_I cannot be part of the world._

_I am no one, and I must walk all three states of being—be it life, death or twilight. All three at once._

_I must be killed to be reborn again._

_Auron didn't understand why such thoughts were being forced into his head, but he felt as though some part of him, sleeping deep inside the place where he needed to see, understood fully and completely and accepted it._

_I am no one._

_No one…_

* * *

"Rikku, this is no time to be fooling around."

What better time to mess with a new gun given to you by your maniac brother than right before you're about to enter the battle of your life that could decide that fate of your world? Apparently she couldn't think of any other time, Auron thought. Still, she was enjoying herself, and as sick as it made him to admit it, he enjoyed seeing her happy.

As long as she didn't shoot anyone.

Now of all times came that little _still_ unfamiliar leap of hope inside of him that he had never felt before—it came every time he looked at her. So he didn't.

She was aiming the small yet deadly machina at imaginary targets and was pretending to shoot them off, sound effects and all. She spun around and everyone in the group ducked, causing her to laugh at their reactions.

"Relax," she assured them, "I know how to handle these things."

"Right," Tidus growled with sarcasm.

"Can I try firing? Just once?"

Everyone whipped around in surprise at Yuna's small voice requesting such a thing.

"Huh?" Rikku aimed the gun at the ground, to everyone's relief. "Why?"

"I want to be able to help in battle," she blurted. "All I can do is heal—I know that such a thing is important—but I want to be able to help all of you damage the enemy faster; maybe then I won't need to heal at all."

For some odd reason she bowed, and Rikku raised an eyebrow. "Uh, sure…here."

Yuna held the gun in the flat of her hands as if it were a foreign object that could eat her at any given moment. "So, I push this trigger here, and that's what fi—"

She yelped as the gun shot with a bang—also foreign to her—and Auron dodged with inhuman speed as it fired several more times, leaving him to stand in an oddly contorted shape.

Yuna dropped the gun and Auron lifted his foot as it shot _again_, and the warrior straightened himself out and eyed the two girls with a stern expression which he was unable to keep from softening as it landed on Rikku. He walked forward and stooped down to retrieve the weapon then stood, staring straight down at Yuna through his sunglasses.

"Sorry, Lady Yuna," he said, clipping the gun to his belt and flipping the safety switch. "I'll handle the gun."

Her hands still over her mouth, she nodded.

* * *

A vast abyss was the belly of the beast; a barely visible path defined their journey across the dull clouds that floated above and below and on all sides, distorting their sense of direction. Each path led to a Yevon symbol at an intersection, at which they all decided to keep going straight—there was no direction anymore, after all, and in the distance they could see an elevated platform that Auron mentally used as an anchor point to determine their location. Thankfully no obstacles or dead ends were met, but he kept seeing something big move swiftly into his peripheral vision then out again, setting his alertness on the edge of the usual sort of paranoia.

"Augh…this place is so creepy!" Rikku squeaked as an inner wind blew by. Her hands were pressed to her chest with her fingers mostly unfolded, though closer to her face than stomach—body language that Auron knew communicated that she was frightened or on the verge of being so. He really had to stop watching her.

"It's the inside of Sin," Tidus said, "what did you expect?"

"Uhh…try 'anything but this.'"

Auron looked up at the place where the clouds seemed to melt around an artificial sky without a sun or moon. This was truly a strange place. But, hey—it was the inside of Sin.

"I wonder if Sir Jecht is in pain," Yuna said quietly.

"Let's not touch that subject," Auron cut in before anyone had the chance to answer, "for the sake of making this ordeal easier."

The group had another one of its mutual-mental agreements and stayed silent.

The platform was slowly coming into better view through the fog, revealing that it was not a platform but a staircase leading to a real platform up ahead. Auron reached out with his mind, feeling around for anything that would pose an obstacle—almost immediately he hit something and identified it.

Oh.

That might pose a little bit of an obstacle.

"Seymour is waiting for us," Auron said, alerting the others.

Tidus moaned. "Are you serious?" he complained, "We have to kill that guy _again_?"

"We'll just make it final this time," said Lulu, earning a nod from Tidus.

"Yeah," he said, "that guy's gonna be pushing up a lot of daisies when we're through with him. There are daisies in the Farplane, right?" He turned to Auron, who scowled.

"I wouldn't know."

"Well, not exactly daisies," said a voice from ahead, "but something quite close."

A silhouette appeared through the fog, growing larger as it grew closer. Had Auron's heart been beating, it probably would have stopped; he knew that voice very well. The figure's bulky robes were visible first, and then as they stepped through the last layer of fog, a peaceful smile was revealed.

"Hello, Yuna," said Braska. "How have you been?"

The summoner gave a choked cry and launched herself at her father, tackling him with all the force she could muster. A wide smile grew on her face while she continually swallowed a lump in her throat.

"I received your message through Belgemine," he said. "I couldn't be more proud of you."

Yuna buried her face in his giant-leaf resembling robes, and several minutes later, after she had calmed down, Braska acknowledged the others.

"Lulu, Wakka, Kimahri," he nodded to each of them and received a bow in return. "Tidus, Rikku and—"

Auron bowed before his former master could say his name. "My lord," he said, "have you been trapped here this whole time?"

"That's correct." Braska released his daughter to let her join the others. "I and all of the other summoners who managed to complete their pilgrimage."

"Wait a second," Yuna cut in, "if you're here, then why do you show up in the Farplane every time someone calls?"

"It's a split state," Braska sighed. "Most of me is here, some of me is there—just enough, in fact, to let my image appear when someone thinks of me in the Farplane."

He stepped forward and put a hand on Yuna's shoulder. "But never mind all of that," he said, smiling. "You have a job to do, do you not?" Yuna nodded. "Remember, even though none of us can assist you, we will still be on the sidelines, watching and cheering you on. Have strength, Yuna; we have all given you our resolves. We believe in you."

The younger summoner pressed her lips together in an attempt to keep from crying like she wanted to. Braska stepped back and began to fade away.

"Auron," he began, "you make a great friend, and an even better guardian. Keep your confidence and never waver again."

The warrior found himself unable to reply as the former summoner disappeared.

* * *

_Edward sat on a shaded bench in the middle of a patch of wide and bright fields, watching Elayne dance and twirl among the many flowers sprouting about the grassy area while humming a song to herself with her perfect, literally magical voice. He was almost in a trance when she stopped abruptly and appeared next to him, sitting._

"_Edward, how old are you?"_

_Ohh, that was certainly an unexpected question, Edward thought, sighing. How to say it delicately?_

"_Ed?"_

_He looked up at her and smiled his crooked grin that she loved. "Are you sure you want to know?"_

_Elayne smiled and nodded. He sighed. She was thirty-three, dead at age seven yet still able to grow for long enough to choose an older form. But such a phenomenon was impossible—maybe that was why she was being kept a secret from the Farplane community. "Tell me."_

"_You won't grimace or do anything of the sort?"_

"_Nope." She gave him a weird look. "Age doesn't matter here, remember? It's the Farplane, silly. We can't have kids, and you know the way of things otherwise. When, in this place, someone falls in love with another, then—"_

"—_they stay that way." Edward's heart suddenly felt very heavy, and he put his fingers to his forehead. "Elayne, I love you dearly, and I wish I could tell you my age." He looked up at her again, a guilty look on his face. "But I lost track at a thousand."_

_She was silent for so long that he thought that she had frozen in shock. Well, Edward _did_ only look like he was in his late twenties. But to his astonishment she merely reached out and poked the square of his forehead. And then she said, "Okay." and leaned forward to kiss him._

* * *

"Don't you ever give up?"

"Sin has chosen me," Seymour said, "I am part of Sin, I am one with Sin, forever! _Immortal_!"

Obsession with Sin, indeed. Auron couldn't stand the lack of humanity in the half-Guado's voice—and neither could the others, apparently; they all grimaced when he spoke.

"Sin just absorbed you," Tidus countered.

"I will learn to control it from within," the madman continued. "I have all the time in the world!"

He began to glow, gathering power for his last battle. "Since you were gracious enough to dispose of Yunalesca, the only means of destroying Sin is forever gone." Finished glowing, he retreated to the air off of the massive platform on which they stood. "Now nothing can stop us!"

"Well, we can." Tidus drew his weapon and the others did the same.

"By all means, try!" he said, growing in size and becoming more and more translucent by the second. "You should thank me. Your death means your father's life."

Auron immediately took notice of the four wheels behind their opponent—were those climbable? He decided to find out. Before anyone else had made a move, Auron pulled out the gun he had taken from Rikku, aimed, and fired. Seymour immediately recoiled in pain, his hand flying up.

"YOU SHOT MY EYE!" he screeched, covering his right eye with both hands and shaking in pain. Thankfully, the wheels weren't shaking with him.

"You bet he did!" Rikku yelled in response, catching the gun when Auron tossed it to her. He unfurled his massive wings and sprang off as Lulu and Wakka began to fire away.

He landed smoothly on the top wheel and bent to examine one of the four symbols on it; they were magic symbols, one for each element. Auron subconsciously reached out and touched one with his mind, finding them all tainted with Seymour's mad soul. Without thinking, he brought his sword around and plunged it through the symbol, shattering it like a glass ball hitting the floor. Auron grinned in triumph until the soul inside the glass rose and swept over him, making him feel unbearably dizzy as soon as it hit. How much more tainted could a soul get? He swayed and fell straight from the wheel.

Instinctively he flipped in the air to land on his feet, but there was nothing to land on. Pushing down with his wings, he clumsily flew back to the bottom of the wheel, taking out the symbol there from under it so he wouldn't experience that lightheadedness again.

The others were attacking Seymour, who had recovered and was firing off spell after spell. The poor man probably wasn't noticing little pieces of his life being chopped to bits; one wheel down.

* * *

"I can see him."

Edward jumped, not expecting Elayne's usually soft voice to declare something so strongly, so suddenly. Bahamut and the other Fayth—who sat around the wide white table—looked up, their eyes glazed over in a trance. Their eyes were all elsewhere. She leaned against the wall of the White Room, eyes closed with two fingers to her forehead, frowning in concentration. "I can see him," she repeated.

"Who, Au—?"

She looked up and stared at him with knowledge in her russet eyes; she had grown much in the past three years, he observed. Not physically, but mentally. There was no need to speak.

"Why can't we help?" she asked Bahamut, who seemed to then shake himself from said trance.

"Your ties to him would alert Ender of your presence," he droned, his mind still far away. "The exact opposite of what we want."

"That changes nothing." Elayne glanced at Edward, her frown deepening. "Ed, we're leaving."

"What?"

She started toward the exit, two massive double doors at the end of the room. Edward tagged along, stopping when she did. "Despite what Bahamut says," she said, her voice barely lowered, "I believe I know a way to get him before Ender does. I know how to disguise myself, and I _will_ help him."

She reached for the handle, a dragon curled into a spiral. Just as she touched the marble, however, the dragon abruptly came to life and lashed out, biting her hand and opening a gash on her palm. She snatched her hand away and covered it, hiding her red-and-silver blood from the Fayth. Edward tried to examine her, but she refused to let him have a look. The wall began to burn with energy, blocking their exit, and Bahamut's eyes suddenly became less glazed.

"We can't let you put our plans in jeopardy," he said. "As I'm sure you already know, much depends on his safe transition."

"You don't understand!" Elayne cried, her heart sinking. "Auron's my brother!"

Bahamut flicked his hand, and with a bang the door vanished.

"And that is the exact reason why you must remain here."

* * *

At any time Seymour could have pulled off one of his purple hair-horns and smacked everyone around. Both of those were his greatest weapons; he could have tried using _them_ to take over the world.

But no, he had to go down like a pansy. Never being inventive or diabolical, just pansy…like.

And he still had to make a speech. Nooooo, he couldn't forget that little element of villain-dom either. Rikku had the gun—why not shoot?

Seymour stumbled forward, still clutching at his eye. With the last of his strength he began to charge a spell, but behind the group Auron sighed—that was all the warning they were granted before the same wave of energy he and Ginnem had used against each other came crashing down; it had much more effect on Seymour than it did the others, who were simply knocked off balance. The half-Guado scrambled to his feet and mimicked Auron's attack, but it felt as though a light breeze had brushed across the area.

Auron audibly chuckled and drove Seymour to his knees again. Slouching in defeat, he stayed on the ground.

"So it is you, after all, who will send me," he said to Yuna, who had already begun the ceremony. "But even after I am gone, Spira's sorrow will prevail."

His sending was quick and to the point, with no time wasted. Too many times they had let the chance to be rid of this man once and for all escape, and they were not going to miss it this time. Within seconds he had dissolved into pyreflies and disappeared, much to Auron's relief; the foul stench of his soul was gone, too.

"Sin will be right behind you," Tidus muttered.

Yuna stared at the path ahead; a wall that seemed to be made of smooth pieces of scrap metal loomed before them with a narrow opening in the middle. The entrance, most likely.

"No time to waste," said Rikku in the lowest voice she could, "let's go!"

She strode forward with a mischievous grin on her face and saw Auron give her the evil eye as she passed.

* * *

"It's like a run down machina city," Tidus observed, walking ahead of the group and examining some of the metal pillars and platforms jutting from the ground. "Helllooooo!!" he called, listening to his voice echo several more times. "helloooo-elooo-eloo…"

"Shut up, Tidus!" Rikku squeaked. "This place is creepy! Who knows what could be hiding around here?"

They all jumped an extra fifty feet when suddenly Auron whipped around, aimed the gun that Rikku had unwillingly given up again, and fired several times into the blackness behind them. He stayed posed that way for a few seconds, gun aimed at nothing, then grunted and slipped it back onto his belt.

"_What the heck was that for_?" Tidus shouted. "You just scared us all half to death!"

"If I were alive, then that last part probably would have been a funny joke," Auron said. "I thought I saw something."

"What did you see?" Yuna asked. "A fiend?"

"A person?" Lulu added.

"Neither—I'm not even sure that I wasn't hallucinating." Auron turned and nodded toward their path. "Either way, Rikku is right."

"Right about what?" asked Tidus.

"Shut up."

They continued through the maze, each of them occasionally glancing over their shoulder for Auron's hallucination, their imaginations running wild. Eventually Rikku, well…couldn't take it. As soon as they reached their second intersection after several minutes of walking, she spazzed.

"Gaaaah!" she cried, hugging herself. "I keep feeling like someone's right behind me!"

"Uhh…that would be me," said Wakka.

"Not you," she said, looking past him and Auron. "Something back there," she said, her voice lowering in volume and heightening in pitch. "Something that keeps moving right as I turn around!"

Auron turned and sucked in a quick breath. "Everyone, make a right turn and hide," he ordered, keeping his voice down. "There really is something back there."

They rushed around the corner and pressed their backs to the wall with Auron closest to the corner, feeling safer knowing that nothing could attack them from behind. Rikku, however, was still terrified.

"What is it?" she squealed, her tone reaching octaves higher than the average ear could handle. "Is it a fiend? An assassin that Yu Yevon created so it could get rid of us?"

"Shhhh," Tidus hissed.

"That's what it is! I know it is!"

"Rikku, be quiet!" urged Yuna, only earning a squeal from the girl in response. Auron freed his other arm quite suddenly and leaned his sword against the wall, reaching for her.

"For goodness sakes, girl, shut your mouth!" he snapped, pulling her over while one hand covered her mouth and the other wrapped around her waist. She instantly froze, holding her breath completely as silence replaced the squeals she had originally been emitting.

Then they heard it: a low growl coming from down the path they had just left. Auron hugged her closer and she looked down to see that his hand had was stiff with his fingers spread wide, as if he was stricken with pain.

He abruptly let her go and crouched by the corner, looking around the side. "Don't watch," he said, ducking around the corner. There were several seconds of silence before they jumped at the sound of a snarl and the sound of ripping flesh and flying blood accompanied by a scream that was certainly not human; then there was silence again.

Auron appeared without a trace of sound, picking up his sword. "It was just an Unsent," he said, scanning Rikku over with sorrow in his eye. Because he was dead, was he really that _frightening_? "Let's go."

* * *

"Err…what's that?"

Tidus was staring at a rock, the first sign of earth that they had encountered…even if it was a weird rock that stood thirty feet high and had masses of Yevon symbols carved in glass circles placed about the surface. The symbols glowed and set the glass on fire with colors.

"It doesn't matter what it is," Wakka said, "it only matters that it's in the way."

"What if we try breaking one of these?" Tidus jogged over to a symbol and pulled out his sword, aiming it just right before driving it forward with intent to pierce. There was a flash of light, then they heard him cry, "Hey, what the—!" before everything went black.

Auron snapped his consciousness together to find that he had been separated from the others and he was lying on his back—though, his head was slightly elevated. He felt something soft brush against his cheek then repeat the movement; he opened his eye to stare up at a white sky and, more importantly, Rikku, who was smiling down at him and stroking his face—whoa, wait.

He sat up, putting a hand to his forehead. Rikku leaped up and hugged his shoulder, crushing the flowers she tread over.

"Hiya."

Auron was silent, still wondering where they were.

"Can we talk?"

He gave her a weird look. "I don't see what else we can do."

She circled him then took a seat on _his_ lap, grabbing his hands and leaning forward. "Stay, please?"

He stiffened, not knowing what to say. "Please?" she repeated. Softly but with irresistible force, Auron pushed her off of his lap and stood, looking for an exit, any exit. He had no such luck; they were surrounded by a field almost identical to the Farplane's floor—or at least what he had visualized it to be. The land extended in all directions with no end in sight…and no exit.

"I love you."

Auron whipped around, his eye widening; he almost slapped Rikku across the face since she had gotten so close. A surge of joy rushed through him and his heart beat once. "_What_?"

"E muja oui," Rikku said, folding her hands behind her and rocking bashfully on her heels. "I dunno how many ways there are to say it. Stay, please?" She took a step closer. "Please? For me?"

For the first time in his life, Auron was so stunned that he was unable to reply. His senses felt heightened; when Rikku reached up and took his face in her hands again, he felt every crease on her palm, every cell of her skin. When she went on her toes and pressed her lips to his he felt every level of their smoothness.

His own lips parted and covered hers in return, his entire body losing restraint by the moment. His arms surrounded her, pulling her closer, powered by the rush of joy he was feeling. Close was not close enough, and this time it didn't need to be.

He ran his hand over her cheek, through strands of her golden hair, then to her pulse at the angle of her jaw where it stayed. He felt her heartbeat and melted further, but somewhere in his mind anger began to burn. Envy, that's what it was. Envy.

Her heart gave a leap, a leap strong enough to let it beat against his finger at her jaw, and the envious rage suddenly undermined the pleasure, crushing it with force. In a split second he gasped then lashed out; in a split second it was over.

Auron was dizzy; he smelled a strange substance and heard something collapse. He stumble back, blinking to adjust his vision before his eye landed on the damage he'd done.

Rikku lay in a bed of flowers, bleeding everywhere, her perfect, beautiful skin marred by claw marks and gashes that had just begun to bleed. She stared up at the sky with emerald spiral eyes, her lips drawn in a small smile that etched itself in Auron's mind to stay there forever as the face of death.

He lost the strength to stand, dropping to his knees as he began to shake. He felt as though his breath had been stolen and the thief wouldn't give it back. He felt as though someone had taken his sword and plunged it through his chest, laughing as they did so. His emotions emptied themselves on the floor, dismay, anger, happiness, love and longing; represented all by the corpse before him. Upon burying his face in his hands he felt something wet—Rikku's blood was on his hands, now it was on his face. He shook harder, felt the oh-so-rare urge to cry…but could not. Pain laced itself through his blood, pulsing, beating like her heartbeat. He wanted to die. Die again—feel the pain of dying so he could pay for this evil instinctive deed. He decided that that pain would be so much easier on him than the pain he was suffering now.

At that moment, he realized that he would have given anything to bring her back, anything to hear the three words "I love you" escape her lips again and feel the following four slip from his own. Anything…

_**This is what will happen if you devote yourself to her any further,**_ said the familiar voice in his head.

He began to fall to the side, even though it felt more like flying…

_**Tell me, Auron. Do you want that kind of pain?**_

Darkness, and then the pain was gone. Why was it gone? He still had to atone…

* * *

Auron sat straight up and scanned his surroundings immediately.

The first thing he saw was Rikku, lying on the floor beside him. He choked out her name and scrambled over to her to find that she wasn't injured at all, but sleeping. It had just been a dream…no, a nightmare. Relief almost knocked him out with its strength.

His eye ran over the others in a quick fashion—everyone was there—then his true surroundings. One name sprang to mind:

Zanarkand.

Zanarkand, lit up as the city that never slept.

Small boulders floated about; Auron looked down to see that they stood on a platform shaped like a circle attached to the rectangle. His eye traveled up to the circle, where it stopped dead. Jecht crossed his arms and smiled.

"You're late, Auron."

* * *

Random Auron Image(s) (separated by "- - -"):

Auron: (pose) Sailor MARS!

- - -

Auron: (points at Kimahri) I name you…K-dawg.

- - -

Auron: One ring to rule them all, one ring to find—

Tidus: But Auron, that's not the right—

Auron: Shut up and _let me tell the story_!

- - -

Auron: Umm…uh, excuse me. Uh, I belie—I believe you have my stapler…my…hmm…

- - -

Yuna: (to Trommel) Even though I am a summoner, my guardians and I are still not used to being catered to so generously.

Auron: (points at Seymour and Trommel) You two! Fight to the death!

- - -

Auron: Don't you wish your girlfriend was _hot_ like _me_?

-Ari Elisianete


	20. Don't Steal My Sunglasses

Due to this chapter's ending, I'm putting the RAIs at the beginning. (And there are a LOT of them!) Thanks again, Xx-DarkStar! You made most of these. Give her a thank you PM if you get the chance.

Sorry for the length. (sniffcry)

**Listen to** "The Soft Goodbye" by Celtic Woman during the end of this chapter. The song should be about 42 seconds **from ending** when you hit the **very last paragraph**. Trust me, I listened to it while I was writing this chapter, and I hit that part of the song at that part of the chapter on my reread. I read it once without music, and another time with it, and on that second read _with_ the music…just…wow.

Edit: I was so excited about uploading I forgot to change the "LINE"s. L.O.L, much?

I'm not even putting anything at the end of the chapter. **SO RELAX**, the story isn't over.

Sorry, I just had to get those two things across. Of course, the music is completely optional.

Random Auron Images (separated by - - -):

Auron: Oh, girl, hold_ on._ Are those shoes on sale?

- - -

Ender: (stare)

Mazrim: Auron! What does the scouter say about his power level?

Auron: …It's over nine THOUSAAAND!!

- - -

Auron: You know what?

Everyone: Hmmm?

Auron: I wanna do a cheer.

Everywhere we go-o!

Tidus:D

People wanna kno-ow!

Wakka: Who we a-are!

Everyone: Soooo we tell them—

Kimahri: WE ARE TIGERS!

- - -

Auron: I am one-hundred percent masculine _man_.

Tidus: Prove it.

Auron: I—

Rikku: (kicks balls)

Auron: (falls over in pain)

Rikku: And that proves it.

- - -

Young Tidus: Auron?

Auron: Hmm?

Young Tidus: Where do babies come from?

Auron: -O …umm…uh…the Chocostork!

- - -

Auron: I'm thirsty.

Rikku: Here, try this! (hands Red Bull)

Auron: (takes a sip)

(massive wings burst forth)

Auron: Red Bull gives you wiiiiings!

- - -

Auron: I'm here to save the wooorld! And I look fab-yew-looous!

- - -

Like them?

Okay. Opening Author's Note time.

…done. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_There are no worlds that will accept me._

_Always alone, I never talk to anyone. That's why I don't know who I am._

_I, being no one, am loved by no one._

_So I tried to disappear._

_That was my second mistake._

_I tried to make everyone disappear, make the me in everyone disappear, too—that was my third mistake._

_I tried so hard to forget what I once held dear…That was my fourth mistake._

_What was my first?_

_I can't remember. The only thing that comes to mind when I ask myself this is a swirl of green—useless information at most. Am I doomed to never know…why…?_

* * *

Twilight—eternal sunset, a thousand shades of eternal gold. The Twilight City looked down upon Spira with wise, golden eyes, remaining silent forever. Buildings loomed at its center, one tower looming above them all, so big that it was impossible to miss.

At the edges of the Twilight City there was nothing except a drop back to Spira—if you knew how to drop the right way. The edges weren't a certain shape; the City was almost a massive rock with a flat face hovering over an ignorant world.

What might have looked like a little girl to some was sitting at one of the edges, the soft brown landscape before the City behind her long forgotten. She smiled and swung her legs over the edge, humming to herself as she watched her toes wiggle over Spira's surface. Her skin was pitch black, her hair long and a deep blonde that appeared to be made of millions of flecks of gold. The same color ran in vein-like strings down her body like shining tattoos, glittering with the power of the City's people's invisible sun. She stared down at Spira to gaze at the clouds of the atmosphere that were recovering from Sin's blast.

"Poor clouds," she muttered. And then she felt sadder than before. "Poor Auron," she sighed, "please wake up soon."

She raised her face to the glittery black and gold and orange sky, feeling better. "At least his dream is happy." Realizing that Auron's dream wasn't really a nice one, she frowned again and hung her head.

"Poor Auron…"

* * *

Auron tried to keep his face smooth, but laying eyes upon his friend made sadness win over. Before he was able to say anything the others woke up simultaneously, all shooting to a stand in shock. They tensed when they saw Jecht, speechless. Under other circumstances, that event might have been funny.

Jecht turned to his son, who by this time had stepped to the front of the group. "Hey."

"Hi."

"Hah!" Jecht grunted, trying to lighten the depressing air. "You got tall, but you're all bones! You eating right, boy?" Jecht paused in his criticism. "You've really grown."

"Yeah, but you're still bigger."

"Well, I am Sin, you know."

Jecht laughed, and Tidus frowned. "That's not funny."

"Well then…" He stopped and cleared his throat. "I mean…you know. Let's end this."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

Tidus didn't hesitate a moment after that. "I hate you."

Jecht barely seemed taken aback, waving it off. "I know, I know," he sighed. "You do what you have to do."

"Yeah."

The former guardian and blitzball player crossed his arms. "I can't hear the hymn so well anymore," he said. "Pretty soon, I'm gonna be Sin. Completely." Looking over the group, he said, "I'm glad you're here now."

Reluctantly the others began to draw their weapons. "Just one more thing, though." Jecht added. "When it starts…I won't be myself anymore. I won't be able to hold myself back. I'm sorry."

Wow, that seemed familiar. Auron rolled Masamune on his shoulder, looking down.

"That's enough," Tidus interrupted before his father could say anything else. "Let's finish this, okay?"

Jecht's eyes went blank and he took a step backward. Losing his balance, he began to stumble toward the edge of the platform. Tidus rushed forward to pull him back, but it was too late; Jecht began to glow as he fell, escaping Tidus's hand. The boy stood that way, hand outstretched to nothing as he watched his father fall. He must've seen something after a few seconds, because he immediately after turned to run back to the others.

A massive fire-engulfed hand grasped the edge, each finger as tall as Kimahri. The platform cracked as Braska's final aeon pulled itself up to loom above them. Fiery, beastly; the aeon was oversized and angry. Jecht was gone.

"I promise this'll be quick," Tidus cried, pointing his sword. "Hit me with all you got, dad!"

* * *

They were watching. He knew it. Ender knew.

Ender grinned from atop his throne, glancing over each of the paintings on his walls—all of them but Mazrim's and his own. The fayth were watching him; all of them, _thousands_ of them. Analyzing his every move.

He began to play sleepy, letting his eyes drop with false weariness. It was a good thing that they knew that Ender never slept until rest was forced upon him every hundred years. He let his eyes close and slowed his already shallow breathing, and when the heavy air disappeared from the room, he knew that all of them had turned away.

Opening his eyes, he grinned and stepped from his throne. The race was almost on; now all he had to do was wait for Auron to fire the starting pistol.

* * *

Long ago Jecht had drawn a massive sword from nowhere and had begun to swing it about in an attempt to crush his foes. But he had a pattern to his swings, and that was what made them easy to avoid.

Lulu and Yuna were teaming up and casting spells on Jecht's sword hand while the others were being distractions for the two. Occasionally Auron would leap up and onto one of the rocks behind him, shooting off and burying his sword in the aeon's back or slashing along his neck. Tidus and Kimahri would attack the hands when they got close, and Rikku and Wakka randomly followed up the magic attacks.

Embracing Flashfire—that had become so easy lately—Auron swung twice. Two swings, to arcs, two explosions worthy of an applause for their effect. Jecht was blown away, off balance even though he was attached to the ground below. He whipped around and punched Auron, sending the guardian flying into the mass of floating rocks behind him the formed Jecht's symbol. He hung on to the one he'd crashed into until he was sure that his wings hadn't been damaged, then delivered several other rounds of his power before diving in to strike again.

He jerked to the side as Jecht saw him coming and swung, spinning and slashing his hand open. The aeon roared, and its attempted sword strikes grew slower and more predictable after that. Tidus, determined to end the fight, delivered a flurry of blows to the symbol on the aeon's chest.

Jecht dropped his sword, which buried itself into the platform. A glowing speck emerged from his back as he fell, soaring into the black sky unnoticed. There was a flash of light as the aeon exploded, and when it faded, Jecht was Jecht again.

He began to fall and Auron started toward him, but as soon as he saw Tidus rushing past he stopped. The boy caught his father just before he hit the ground, pulling him into his arms.

"You're gonna cry," Jecht said as Tidus turned him to rest on the ground, "you always cry. See?" He grinned. "You're crying."

"I hate you, dad." Tidus managed to get out, shaking but not facing the others to reveal his tears.

"Save it for later."

"Right…" Tidus stood and lifted a hand to scrub at his eyes. "We've got a job to do, don't we?"

"That's right," said Jecht. "You are my son, after all."

For some reason, Tidus forced a laugh. "You know, for the first time, I'm glad…" a pause, "to have you as my father."

Jecht laughed, interrupted by Yuna raising her staff. "Sir Jecht, I should—"

He glanced up, and for the first time everyone noticed the ball of gleaming red circling the area. "There's no time!"

The red sphere glowed angrily. "You stay away!" Tidus yelled as Jecht began to turn to pyreflies.

"Yuna, you know what to do. The aeons—"

Bahamut appeared in front of him with a flash. "We aeons—"

"Call them!"

"Call us!"

They vanished at the same moment, leaving nothing to worry about but Yu Yevon himself.

At the same moment, Auron heard a barrage of voices in his head, all of them different speakers.

_**I can't protect you, now. Be safe, Auron.**_

_**We can't protect you anymore.**_

_**Brother, I'm sorry.**_

_**Wake up! Don't leave, yet!**_

_**Make the right choice, Auron.**_

_**You are worth so much more. Do not throw yourself away as you've planned.**_

_**I'm coming for you, little one. Are you afraid?**_

"Here it comes!" Lulu cried just before another flash of light. They felt weightlessness then new ground under their feet; Jecht's sword was now the new platform in an abyss.

Yu Yevon whipped around the area like a hyperactive mosquito. Yuna, already knowing what to do, raised her staff. Before they knew it, Valefor came soaring to them. Lowering its head so that Yuna could give it one last pat on the beak, the aeon fluttered away and grew dark in color. Yu Yevon froze in the air and lost its color, and Valefor screeched.

"Yuna!" Rikku called, "Yu Yevon can't possess two aeons at once, right? Summon another one and fight it with that!"

Yuna nodded once and proceeded to summon Bahamut, who entered in a similar fashion. The massive aeon suddenly froze and Yu Yevon lost more of its color, possessing Bahamut as well. Rikku paled.

"Sorry," she squeaked.

Auron was still in a daze from the voices calling out to him at the same time. He looked down to his hand to see that he was holding what looked like a large pyrefly, though it was blue and the usual rainbow stream that it emitted was black.

His life force. He was _holding_ it.

The two aeons stared at it intently, watching it pulse with what would have been Auron's heartbeat. The guardian's eye widened.

"While they're distracted," Auron began, but the others were already all over attacking both of the aeons. Within minutes the two had been defeated with almost no effort. Yuna reacted badly to having to destroy her own aeons, which were like family to her. She cringed and tears began to form as the bond between them was severed, but began to summon again, and the blue pyrefly in Auron's hand vanished.

* * *

"It's almost over," Edward whispered. Ella nodded, "I know."

"Is Ender out of the way?" she asked Bahamut and the others who hadn't been called yet.

"He fell asleep," he said. "He will sleep for twenty-three more hours."

Ella got the feeling that he wasn't announcing that for his own health. There were others watching them. Did everyone have an eye on everyone else? Yes, that was it; one eye on your opponent, one eye on your prize.

Everyone had probably grown about five or six more eyes.

* * *

Auron couldn't possibly imagine the pain the Yuna felt each time they destroyed one of her aeons, but he could certainly watch the effects it had on her. After the last aeon was gone, she collapsed and tears brimmed but did not fall. Yu Yevon shot down to hover in front of them, pulsing with anger.

"Everyone!" Tidus said, helping Yuna up. "This is the last time we fight together, okay?"

Auron looked away while everyone stared. Wakka made a startled sound.

"What I'm trying to say is…when we beat Yu Yevon, I'll disappear!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Lulu.

"I'm saying goodbye!"

The blue pyrefly appeared in Auron's hand again, this time at his will. Heart sinking at the though of his suicide, he turned around and—before he changed his mind or hesitated, before it was too late—he charged at the boy. The others gasped as he thrust the pyrefly into Tidus's chest, sending him to the ground. They watched as for a moment both of them glowed then returned to normal, and Tidus scrambled to a stand.

"What was that for?!"

Auron straightened, staring down at his hand. "You can take those words back, now," he said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Tidus took an angry step toward him. "What did you do, old man?!"

Rikku grabbed the elder guardian's arm. "Auron?"

Yu Yevon screeched, turning all of their attention to what was now a giant tick. Auron grabbed his sword and held it at his front. "Never mind what I did," he said, "fight!"

The bug-like creature began to cast magic, but Yuna shelled everyone quickly and began countering with Lulu, providing a gap in Yevon's attacks for the others to launch their own. At the same time, they all buried their weapons inside its shell, repeating the pattern. If Yu Yevon had once been a person, then it hadn't been the brightest.

Eventually it retreated inside its little glowing ball of doom, appearing again as a shadow of a man. This figure split into seven more figures, and they began to color. All gasped as a shadow of Yuna formed, then Tidus, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Rikku, then Auron.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Tidus moaned while Auron silently prayed that he wasn't going to be forced to kill his comrades. When the clones charged, he was overly thankful that his own charged at him. Raising his sword to block, Auron dodged to the side and delivered a smooth punch to the shadow's face. It recovered more quickly than he'd anticipated, spinning back and almost punching in return. Auron swung his sword and missed, the shadow swung its fist and missed. Auron leaped into the air and reached to the back of his clone's neck, grasping the low ponytail no one knew he had and tossing the shadow into the air. It kicked downward and barely missed before Auron slashed its leg open.

When they both landed, they both landed smoothly. Wasting no time, Auron shot Flashfire at his opponent and rushed in when it hit. The clone dodged the thrust of his sword enough to just make a gash on his side. Blood flew and Auron skidded around to the shadow's back to swing. Miss; it ducked and kicked Auron's feet out from under him. Catching himself would have taken too much confused effort, so he let himself fall before he rolled to the side to avoid a kick. He caught a glimpse of the others in the process; Rikku was helping Yuna and Lulu take down the Yuna and Lulu shadows, and Wakka and Tidus were with Kimahri and trying to beat shadow-Kimahri.

Shadow Auron kicked again and struck Auron's spine, driving the guardian to his knees after having just stood up. A blow to his head jarred his senses and blurred his vision, but no more blows came. Kimahri, Wakka, and Tidus had defeated their shadows, and had come to assist.

"Come on, Sir Auron!" Wakka called, "Get up!"

Auron made his way to a stand and grasped his sword, rushing forward when the dizziness had stopped ailing him. Caught off guard, the clone became distracted enough for Auron to drive Masamune straight through its stomach. Shadow-Auron choked once, fell to the floor, and disappeared in a burst of pyreflies.

The Yuna and Lulu shadows were still fighting with the real ones, but Kimahri and Tidus quickly drove the Lulu shadow to a stop—since Wakka refused to harm her.

Auron walked up behind Yuna, who was holding her staff protectively in front of her. "May I?" he asked, nodding to the summoner's opponent. She nodded and without hesitation Auron took two steps, grabbed the clone's throat with his free hand, and squeezed. They watched as the shadow suffocated, writhing in an unsuccessful attempt to escape. Auron squeezed harder, and they heard something snap just before shadow-Yuna gasped and fell limp, bursting into pyreflies. An unbearable silence followed, then a flash of light—they found themselves standing on the platform in Zanarkand again.

"It's done," Yuna said, "It's finally over."

There was another moment of silence before she approached Auron with a withdrawn expression. "Should I…?"

"Not yet," Auron said upon seeing Rikku's face out of the corner of his eye. "I want to see the fruit of our efforts."

She bowed and a smile returned to her face. Just then they began to hear a deep rumbling from far off and felt small vibrations under their feet.

"It's coming from over there," Tidus announced, pointing. They all turned to see the landscape in that direction—there was nothing different. The rumbling got louder and the vibrations harder, and they began to see it. The whole place was bursting into pyreflies. The spirits erupted from each and every structure, approaching them like a tidal wave.

"There's no sense in running," said Auron, and they all turned to look at him like he was crazy.

"Are you outta your mind?!" Wakka cried.

"How many times have you seen pyreflies kill someone by flying through them?"

Wakka thought for a moment. "Good point."

The ground vanished from under their feet and they began to fall as pyreflies washed over them, drowning out all sound with their long chorus. The airship was just below, losing altitude so they could land without breaking their sorry human skeletons.

The airship began to float on a sea of singing pyreflies, waves cresting with restlessness and beauty.

"Yuna," Lulu said after the ship had settled in the sky, gesturing to the stray spirits, "send Sin and the aeons. All these pyreflies have nowhere to go until you point the way home."

Yuna began her dance, and the pyreflies swirled around the airship using Yuna as a centerpiece. The aeons appeared, one by one, fading into pyreflies and joining the sea. The stars brightened above them, beating with the heart of the dance, and Sin seemed to sigh before a million more spirits burst from it and joined the others. They began to spiral upward as Yuna danced, creating a vortex of every imaginable color above.

At the edge of the airship, Braska briefly appeared and bowed his head, the most peaceful smile on his face. Yuna almost broke down then, but continued her sacred dance until the very end, when all of the pyreflies rained upward and vanished. The stars shone with acceptance, and Yuna swooned before Tidus caught her and helped her stand. Rikku turned to Auron and grinned, raising her hand.

"I want a high five," she said. Auron couldn't help but smile as he raised his own. Their hands met—

…and passed through each other.

They both froze, her smaller arm sticking through his larger one. Tidus put the pieces together.

"Auron…" he whispered, "you made yourself the dream, didn't you?"

He didn't reply. He was too captivated by the look on Rikku's face to pay attention to anything else. She withdrew her hand and held it up again.

"Y-you must have missed, silly," she said, her voice shaking, _all_ of her shaking, and Auron saw tears forming in her eyes as she forced a smile. "Try again?"

"Rikku—"

"Please?"

He raised his hand again, and this time their hands met with a satisfying slap. Rikku gave a cry of joy and leaped forward to hug him.

Auron swore that his heart shattered when she stumbled right through him, unexpectedly landing on the airship floor.

He tried to get himself to turn around, but he was sure that he wouldn't be able to bear it if he saw her face again. Rikku turned over to sit, and he heard her force a shaky laugh that turned into a well concealed choked sob at the end.

"Looks like _I_ missed this time," she said, standing. "How do you miss a hug? Wow, I must be pretty tired…or some…"

She stopped herself before he could hear her crying, because she sure was crying, then. Auron finally turned around and stepped toward her, growing more transparent by the moment. He lifted a hand and placed it on her cheek, barely caring that the others were watching as he wiped away her tears with his thumb. It had about as much of an effect as a feather trying to move a brick, but it was an effect. He realized that he was shaking as well.

He tried to say her name, but nothing would come. Instead, he reached to his nose and lifted his sunglasses from his face, turning them and slipping them onto hers.

"Don't steal my sunglasses," he said, smiling. Rikku rubbed at the tears she could reach, then smiled back.

"Y…yeah," she managed to say. He reached out and poked the square of her forehead, and she also managed to smile as he stepped away, walking to the edge of the airship then turning back.

"It's goodbye, then," he said, looking over the others. Kimahri put his massive right fist to his chest; the Ronso symbol that meant that a vow had been fulfilled. Auron repeated the gesture.

"Thank you for all of your help, Sir Auron," said Yuna. Wakka nodded.

"We'll miss you, ya?"

"I was only doing my job." Auron turned away and readied himself to leave, freeing his other arm so he could free his wings.

"Old man?"

Auron looked over his shoulder at the boy that he had raised for ten years.

"Thanks. For everything."

His eye lingered before he unfurled his wings to block his face from the others.

"This is your world now."

With that said, Auron leaped from the airship, his white wings pushing down, pulling him higher. Rikku's tears kept coming, but she was smiling anyway, though she couldn't say why. Stars could be seen through him in the night sky, and they shone again with acceptance as he flew higher. The light spread until all of the stars were shining down upon him. They continued to shine even as he faded—in fact, they only brightened—and then he was gone forever. She finally realized why she was still smiling.

Her angel had returned to the sky.


	21. Ender

**READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS.**

**READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS.**

**READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS. READ THIS.**

Ahem. **For those of you who thought that the story was over…**

**SHAME. ON. YOU. (slapbackhand)**

I would _never_ leave you hanging like that! Shame on you for thinking that at all. What of Ender? What of Mazrim? What of Elayne and Edward? Did you think that I had possessed absolutely no intention of finishing their story? SHHHHAME. When, in some of your reviews, I got the idea that you all thought that I was going to stop it there, I teared up. I really did. And you know something? I cry less than Auron does.

Definition of "sequel": Something that follows; a continuation. A literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative continues that of a preexisting work.

**THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL.**

**THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL.**

**THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL.**

**THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL.**

Did I mention that _**THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL?**_

From here on out, please read the opening author's notes I put in my fics. This is the last chapter of Don't Steal My Sunglasses, but **not** the last of the series. I'm sorry to have to do this, but if you have read the opening author's note in this chapter, include my pen name (or part of it) somewhere in your review. I don't want any apologies—I really don't deserve them since I didn't make my point clear enough in the last opening note and I just ranted at all of you for my mistake. I should be apologizing to all of you, now.

Sorry, everyone. End rant here.

For the first time in eighty-thousand-odd words,

Disclaimer: I do not own: FFX or its characters/locations/ideas. (tear)

I DO own: this plot that doesn't include the original FFX plot, the idea of the deathday, and the characters Ender, Mazrim, Elayne, Edward, Reina, and more to come, including new locations.

See? Y'all done gone made me so durn mad that I remembered to put a disclaimer.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the final chapter of Don't Steal My Sunglasses.

**THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL.**

* * *

_It was by this time that the thoughts had begun to repeat themselves over and over in Auron's head. Questions circulated like mad, going unanswered every time they arose._

_He looked down at his hands; he was fading away again. Maybe he would actually die this time…when had he died the first time? What was his name, again?_

_He concluded that he was losing his memory bit by bit because his life force was fading. The life force supported the memories. No life force meant no memories. What was a life force?_

_A small sound caught his attention and he looked up, seeing a crack in one of the mirrors. A high splintering sound was made as all of them cracked the same way, then a burst of clinking and clattering as his prison shattered._

* * *

Night had turned into day with barely any warning. The stars had shone brightly all night, rivaling the moon with their brilliance before the sun had come to drown them out. Now the golden sphere hung gently in the sky, burning away the few clouds that passed under. 

None of the guardians had gotten ample sleep; people were bursting with questions for them, mostly for Yuna—what was it like? How long was the fight? Was anyone hurt?

And, very occasionally, "Where is Sir Auron?"

Rikku had asked herself this question many times. Where had he faded away to? Where was he now? Was he finally, genuinely happy?

"Ceasing to exist" was something that people did when they "died." They were transferred to another world, the Farplane—a world that the living could not enter—so they consequently ceased to exist in the living's eyes. But Auron…just where had he faded away to? There had to be somewhere. People can't disappear forever. Everyone eventually sees each other again, right?

She had begun to look at the world in a different manner. Not as a bubbly and peppy Al Bhed, but as a speculator of the world itself. She had time to do that, now. She didn't have any intention of turning stoic, but for once in her life she wanted to see the world through someone else's eyes. Maybe by examining the world, she could find an answer as to why her heart hurt so much.

Of course, she already knew the answer to that. But she needed a distraction to satisfy her denial. The fact that Auron was really, truly gone had hit as soon as it had happened, but maybe that was the only reason she wasn't as pained as she should have been. As soon as the stars had begun to shine and accept him into the sky, her heart had begun to shine the same way to accept his departure.

But there was still pain.

With help from the still-loyal guardians, Yuna had gotten all the sleep she needed as they stood guard at her door. Rikku'd had the most shifts; she had doubted that there was any chance of sleep on her part.

The next morning she had been pleasantly drowsy. She remembered wandering off to the docks to watch the sun rise; she remembered the escalating pink and orange being reflected off of a dark black surface that she held in her hand. She remembered a drop of water falling onto the black surface, distorting the image of the rising sun. She dismissed it as one of the waves cresting and getting her wet, but then more droplets fell and she gave the sky a quizzical look, wondering why she couldn't see the rain. It was all over her face, after all.

She remembered falling asleep on that dock, dreaming of red and bravery, of sacrifice and suffering. An embrace that surrounded her, comforted her, a low sound that made her feel at home. White wings…A shield that protected her over and over again. She dreamed of the shield vanishing, leaving a shield to hide the rain that would fall behind. And then an earthquake. The whole world was shaking…

"Wake up…gah. Come on, Rikku! We're gonna be late!"

She moaned and sat up, realizing that her face was crusty with dried tears. Frowning, she scrubbed them away. Shoot…her face was probably all puffy.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Tidus greeted. "You actually woke up!"

"Yeah." She looked up and stared. Something must have been in her expression, because Tidus sighed and took a seat next to her, staring out at the waves.

"You know," he began, "Auron was my old man for longer than my dad was my old man."

Rikku blinked. "Huh?"

"Well…" Tidus paused, trying to find words. "What I'm trying to say was that Jecht took care of me for seven years, and Auron watched over me for ten."

"Really?"

Tidus nodded. "Yeah. At first, I thought that he was trying to replace my old man, so I began to hate him, too. But after my mom died, I realized that he was actually a good guy." He stopped to laugh. "He pretty much took over the role as 'daddy' then. He showed that he cared. He helped me grow up, but he didn't hold my hand every step of the way, you know? He taught me how to grow up on my own. Be independent."

He put his hands behind his head and leaned back, laying down on the dock. "I guess that must've been the way he grew up…only a little happier on my part."

Rikku nodded slightly in agreement, and Tidus growled.

"Gahh. Where am I going with this? I suck at pep talks."

"You don't have to cheer me up." She surprised herself with the monotonousness of her tone. "I get it. He's gone."

Tidus sat up, a worried expression on his face. "Come on, Rikku. None of us want to lose the peppy Al Bhed that we all know and love—don't go quiet now! Auron leaving shouldn't have that much of an effect on you, ri…?"

Rikku was silent, and had begun to fiddle with the sunglasses in her hand, staring down at the x bridge as a distraction. Tidus's frown deepened.

"You didn't…" He paused. "You kinda liked him, didn't you?"

Rikku nodded softly, so slightly that anyone not watching intently wouldn't have noticed it. Tidus hung his head.

"Aww, man. I feel really bad, now. He pretty much killed himself for me, but now you're hurt because of it." He fell silent for a moment, then stood and turned to her. "Okay. Uhh…you know what?" She looked up. "Auron didn't have the chance to live, so I think he would have wanted you to live for him. He wanted all of us to live in his place, you know? That's why he gave his life for me. So we could all be together." He offered his hand. "I think that he thinks that he did the right thing. So feel better, okay?"

She smiled, took his hand and let herself be pulled to a stand.

"Hey, Tidus?"

"Uh-huh?"

She slipped what had become her most prized possession in her pocket, and gave him a familiar mischievous grin. "Race ya."

She took off at a dead run toward the Luca stadium, leaving Tidus to stand behind with the most precious look on his face.

* * *

Ella tensed. "We have to go," she growled at Edward, "now!" 

Bahamut gasped and muttered something about his sight of Auron disappearing. As soon as he noticed Elayne dashing toward the wall where the door had been, he looked to the other fayth. Yojimbo leaped forward and caught Edward before he went any farther. Elayne herself was restrained by the Magus Sisters. She was much stronger than them and knew their movements before they came; she spun to the side and smashed her fist into Mindy's neck. The fayth fell to the floor and the woman leaped over her, continuing her dash to the nonexistent door. Skidding to a stop and taking advantage of her momentum, she drew back a fist and punched the wall head on. The marble only dented a foot by a foot, but that was all she needed.

"Edward!"

He had already gotten Yojimbo off of his back and was sending hundreds upon thousands of pyreflies at the wall. Ella leaped into the air to avoid the blast, landing smoothly and escaping the White Room at a dead run. Ahead of them was only darkness.

Bahamut could only stare after them in shock. He quickly tried to contact Ifrit and Shiva, who were the most familiar to the touch of his mind, but they were out of his reach on the route.

It was suddenly every man for himself.

* * *

Tidus and Rikku arrived at the maester's box at the same time, stooping over to pant while receiving several looks from their comrades. Rikku looked up and grinned, and Yuna chuckled. 

The whole stadium was abuzz with excitement; there were so many people present that hundreds were forced to stand. They didn't seem to mind, though, since the happy fuss was contagious.

"You ready?" Wakka asked the summoner. She nodded and, without another word, stepped to the edge of the maester's box. It was as if a spell had been cast over the stadium. Everyone fell silent immediately, waiting for the words of their beloved summoner—no, High Summoner. Yuna was silent for a moment more before she held her head high and began to speak.

"Everyone has lost something precious," she said, her voice strong as it swept across the stadium for all to hear. "Everyone here has lost hopes, dreams, and friends. Everybody…"

A smile spread across her face. "Now, Sin is finally dead. Now, Spira is ours again. Working together, we can make new homes for ourselves, and new dreams."

A soft wave of clapping spread across the stadium. "Although I know the journey will be hard," continued Yuna, "we have lots of time. Together, we will rebuild Spira. The road is ahead of us, so let's start out today!"

A roar of approval erupted from the crowd, and Yuna turned to see the reactions of her friends. Wakka punched the air as Tidus walked up and put a hand on her shoulder. Yuna laid her eyes on Rikku and jumped, quickly turning back to the crowd.

"Just one more thing, everyone!" she tried to say, but the crowd's cheers drowned her out. Tidus waved a hand for silence, calling out until the whole stadium had settled down. Yuna stepped forward again.

"The people and the friends that we have lost—or the dreams that have faded…"

Her audience waited patiently for her next words, "Never forget them."

That day, Rikku got the feeling that somehow, somewhere, Auron was watching over them.

That day, she received something that, from then on, never allowed her to forget that.

_**Hello, Rikku.**_

* * *

The Farplane was a beautiful place; exactly as described and pictured. The lake was there, the flowers were there, the blue moon was there. The U shaped waterfall was there, too. Auron lifted his head to the sky and laughed almost hysterically. 

He was damned! This was his punishment. He was going to keep existing with the guilt of leaving the only thing he held dear behind. He was a demon, a devil doomed to suffer. His laughter cut off as the last part of that thought went through his mind, and he sank to his knees as desperation suddenly set in. Beauty, beauty all around him, and all he could see was Rikku's face. That name, however blasphemous or tauntingly painful, would become his world.

And yet, he was so grateful. No longer did he have the urge to kill, no longer did he have to worry about controlling himself around her. He was gone. They were separated.

She was safe.

The place where his heart was supposed to be burned and ached unbearably, and he doubled over and grasped at it, gasping. The fire spread and turned his limbs to stone until he was completely paralyzed. Ringing started in his ears and got louder, blocking out the once peaceful chorus of pyreflies; the many colors of the landscape blurred until the difference between the flowers and the sky was no longer discernable.

He had asked so little of life, but life had demanded so much from him. He'd become a legend of war when all he'd ever wanted was peace. He'd made a mistake and paid for it by losing his life. He had saddened his comrades and left the boy that he'd watched over for years with a heavy burden, probably heavier than the boy could manage. He had wronged so many people and had never corrected himself. He had received pain and returned nothing more, nothing less! He had wanted a clear conscience in the beginning, but what had he been rewarded with? A woman that he felt nothing for but admiration and love.

And the fire raged and burned as he had his final revelation: even though she had cried and showed more than distress at his final death, he knew that soon enough he would be forgotten—erased from her memory like a meaningless piece of information that had only served a temporary purpose.

Auron closed his eye and laid his forehead on the ground. He didn't want to see the world anymore. The world hated him.

"Why are you sad?"

He looked up and the pain miraculously vanished. A child was standing in front of him, staring down with a curious look. It looked like a girl, but he couldn't be sure; it didn't seem human. Her skin was entirely black, and she had long golden hair and vein-like strings of the same color that seemed to be running down her entire body from her face, which was…thin. She wore a faded yellow cloak that concealed her neck to her knees. When his eye met hers, she blinked over light blue eyeballs with innocent golden irises.

"Why are you sad?" she repeated.

"I…lost something," he said, and she tipped her head to the side, the masses of jewelry that she wore to match her hair clinking like sunny chimes.

"What'd you lose?"

"Something I can never get back."

"That's silly," she said, "you can always find what you've lost. No matter what."

"Not in this case," Auron said. "After all, I don't think I'm meant to find it again, anyway."

"That's silly, too!" The girl giggled. "If you lost something, you gotta _find_ it again."

Auron stared at her as she spun around one time then offered her hand. "I'll help you find it!" she said. He looked from her hand to her eyes, and he reached up and took her tiny hand in his.

"You can try."

She smiled and waited for him to stand before she led him toward the lake, and they stepped into a whole other world.

* * *

Ender closed the door to his massive home, unable to smile even though the events about to pass were momentous upon magnificent. Auron had finally passed to the Farplane, but not quite in the way that he had expected. 

He flexed his white fingers, clenching his teeth as he gazed up at his newest painting. Auron was a stupid little man, and it was time to fix his little mistakes and crush his spirit. At least it was for a good cause—the sake of knowledge. What greater cause was there?

Oh. Revenge. He couldn't forget revenge. The living would pay in due time.

* * *

They took a step and the world changed; they were now on the Highroad, with which there was something terribly wrong. The grass was withered, the dirt an unhealthy brown and black. The Travel Agency was a pile of rusted and black rubble, and there were one or two lumps of unidentifiable corpses lying about. The sky was hidden by dark, toxic-looking smoke clouds, through which an occasional ray of light beamed down. 

"What's happened?" Auron asked. "Where are we?"

The girl stopped, but didn't let go of his hand. "I'unno. When I'm Traveling like this, I usually ignore the stuff that shows up until I get where I want to be." She had said "traveling" as if it had more meaning than the normal definition.

Auron began to say her name until he realized that he didn't know what it was. "What should I call you?"

"My name's Fay."

"Fay," Auron repeated. "Let's leave."

"Mmkay!"

After he had taken another step, they emerged at another location.

It was Macalania forest. The land was blackened and burned here, too. The once beautiful crystals darting the forest had lost their entire luster, now mirror-like and clear, reflecting the sorry state around them. The plants and trees that had grown for thousands of years had withered severely but were still, as if set in stone. Auron barely had any time to see anything else before they stepped out of that place and into another.

They traveled to seemingly every previously unpopulated corner of Spira, and each time they arrived at somewhere else there was only destruction waiting for them. The whole earth had been burned, it seemed. Fay didn't look like she was taking any notice of the desolate nature of each place they passed through, only innocently taking him through each one.

Eventually they arrived in the Zanarkand dome, of all places, where Fay stopped and let go of his hand, whipping around to smile up at him.

"Let's play a game!" she said. "Hide and Seek!"

"Wha—"

"Go!"

Auron was about to start protesting when she vanished, leaving him alone in yet another destroyed area. The Zanarkand dome could hardly be called a dome anymore…more like a big circular pile of wall with a big pile of crap in the middle.

He glanced around, frowning. "Fay, we don't have time for thi—"

But they did have time. That was the thing about going to the Farplane; you had time. All the time you wanted…that fact saddened him further, for some reason. He hopped down from what might've been the path that he had walked on both pilgrimages and began to look around. Occasionally he would hear a childlike giggle in the opposite direction he was looking in and find nothing when he turned to it. He never became annoyed, however. What reason was there to be?

After much time spent looking, Fay appeared next to him, beaming up at him.

"I'm good, aren't I?"

"Very good," Auron said, hoping to keep her spirits high. It would do him no good to depress a child.

"One more game?"

"Let's leave," he immediately answered. "I'm not very fond of this place."

"Are you suuuure?"

"Very sure." When she frowned, Auron quickly added, "Maybe later."

She cheered and took his hand again, dragging him to somewhere else.

This time their emergence was not in a place that he'd expected at all. They were on the large stone platform above the Farplane, looking down at the place that they'd started. Nothing had changed, here.

"Aww," Fay pouted, "we didn't get anywhere!"

She let go again and dashed to the other edge of the platform, looking over and making excited sounds. Auron's eye landed on the Farplane's exit, and his heart leapt as a question presented itself: could he leave? There was no harm in trying.

Walking over to the blue mist, he hesitantly put a hand on it and pushed. Meeting no resistance, it went right through. He took a deep breath and stepped through…

…emerging on the Farplane's platform. Hope abandoned him, and his dead heart was heavy.

"What were you trying to do?" asked Fay, running over.

"Leave." Auron sighed. "But I can't, can I?"

"I don't think so." She pressed her lips together. "Oh well. C'mon! We have to find what you lost, remember?"

She reached forward, but before her hand had moved an inch, six massive slabs of glass shot from the ground and surrounded Auron, trapping him in a hexagon that stretched toward the sky. The glass began to steadily decrease in transparency, and Auron quickly threw a punch at his prison wall. It cracked in several places, but as it thickened, the cracks filled themselves.

Just before he lost sight through the glass, he saw Fay staring at it at if she couldn't see him, with a look on her face that said, "Is this a game?"

Outside vision was lost, and Auron found himself surrounded by six tall mirrors.

* * *

Ella had lost her breath a long time ago, but she continued to sprint beside Edward through the thick darkness. 

"Where is he?" asked Edward through pants of breath.

"I don't know," Ella replied. "Make a hard right in five steps."

Edward silently counted two and a half full sprints then pushed off to the right as she had ordered. _Then_ he spazzed.

"You don't _know_?!" he cried—that turned out to be a mistake, since he lost half of his breath in the process.

"I can sense him, but I can't see him," Ella calmly evaluated through her gasps for air. "All I see is a white pillar on the flipside. The visitor's platform, you twit!" she added when he gave her a strange look. "Make a left in ten. We should be there soon."

"We have to get there before Ender does," Edward said.

"Yeah, I really didn't know that—thanks for telling me, honey!"

He would have given her a sharp look had he not heard the worry under her tone.

* * *

Auron turned, around and around, staring through foreign eyes at the six mirrors that made his cage. In all of them his image was reflected; six different angles, six different Aurons, all confused and searching, blurred by his constantly moving vision. 

He stopped for a moment and took a look at himself; he was taller and his frame was a little wider, more refined, stronger. His face showed the very distress that he felt, his eyes, both of them, were wide open, revealing irises that were such a lighter brown than his normal russet that they were almost gold. Startled yet feeling no such emotion, he lifted a hand to his right eye. His scar was gone…but he looked down at his left arm to find it blackened and rough as if it had been burned yet hadn't quite recovered. The skin was flaked and scarred where it had made an attempt at healing. He reached down and felt it, but it was completely smooth, even at the flakey parts. His new body was an illusion. There was pain radiating from his arm though, somewhere. Somewhere at the back of his soul it hurt…

Six mirrors, six ways to see himself without seeing inside of himself. That was where he needed to see. He stumbled back and leaned on one of the mirrors, shaking as strange thoughts inserted themselves into his head.

_I am no one._

_Even if I were someone, no one would comprehend that._

_Even if they could, I couldn't communicate that to those around me…_

_According to the perspective of others, I am part of the world. But from my perspective and the others who contemplate the world, I do not exist within it._

_What I see is the world, and I am merely part of the perspective that gives shape to the world._

_I cannot be part of the world._

_I am no one, and I must walk all three states of being—be it life, death or twilight. All three at once._

_I must be killed to be reborn again._

Auron didn't understand why such thoughts were being forced into his head, but he felt as though some part of him, sleeping deep inside the place where he needed to see, understood fully and completely and accepted it.

_I am no one._

_No one…_

_There are no worlds that will accept me._

_Always alone, I never talk to anyone. That's why I don't know who I am._

_I, being no one, am loved by no one._

_So I tried to disappear._

_That was my second mistake._

_I tried to make everyone disappear, make the me in everyone disappear, too—that was my third mistake._

_I tried so hard to forget what I once held dear…That was my fourth mistake._

_What was my first?_

_I can't remember. The only thing that comes to mind when I ask myself this is a swirl of green—useless information at most. Am I doomed to never know…why…?_

It was by this time that the thoughts had begun to repeat themselves over and over in Auron's head. Questions circulated like mad, going unanswered every time they arose.

He looked down at his hands; he was fading away again. Maybe he would actually die this time…but when had he died the first time? What was his name, again?

He concluded that he was losing his memory bit by bit because his life force was fading. The life force supported the memories. No life force meant no memories. What was a life force?

A small sound caught his attention and he looked up, seeing a crack in one of the mirrors. A high splintering sound was made as all of them cracked the same way, then a burst of clinking and clattering as his prison shattered.

* * *

Elayne burst into light with a cry, her eyes locking on the white pillar she had visualized. Edward was less quick, but only because he couldn't sense Auron's location so nearby. 

She immediately proceeded to drive her fist into the pillar; she heard it crack from the other side and kept at her assault. The cracks healed themselves, but she was too fast. With the mirrors near shattering, Edward sent a wave of pyreflies at the wall.

It broke into a thousand pieces, crumbling from the top as if peeling away from a mold. The glass rained down, and reached the floor—

Elayne and Edward both gasped, and she fell to her knees. There was no one inside. Ella could still sense Auron's overwhelming presence at the center of the glass, but she instantly knew that it was a fake signal.

Ender had set them up. Ender had reached him first.

"We've failed," Edward said. Ella bowed her head.

"I didn't know that," she whispered, dismay disabling her ability to add sarcasm, "thanks for telling me, honey."

* * *

Auron stared at his rescuer, trying to recall the name. But before he could recall, they disappeared. Auron looked around, noticing a slightly transparent staircase extending over a massive fall to flowery plains and a lake, leading to a blue moon suspended by black smoke. He tried to remember how he had escaped from the mirrors, and began his ascent in deep thought. 

Deep drained to shallow. As his ability to remember vanished, his thoughts could only come in short bursts. He kept thinking the same things over again. He kept thinking the same things over again. The same things over again. He couldn't remember why he was walking up this staircase or why he was losing all emotion. He looked down at his hand and couldn't remember what a hand was, or why it could be seen through. He closed his eye and wondered why the world had vanished.

All thought left him. If someone had noticed him then, they would have seen a translucent man walking up a transparent staircase with no expression on his face whatsoever. Auron had lost his soul.

And yet he kept walking. Maybe it was nerve-and-muscle confusion and interaction, like that of a twitching dead animal that still had the bodily urge to walk. Maybe it was that the one action of climbing that staircase was the only thing he had left, the only thing that his life force—or what was left of it—had to prove that he was still there. In either case, Auron kept walking until he had reached the blue moon and had, at last, entered its bright core.

* * *

"Looks like we were here first." Edward grimaced at the new arrivals. There was Reina—one of the Seven Farplane Lords, even though she acted on her own. Three of the dominant fayth—Valefor, Ifrit, and Shiva—were present as well, along with another one of the Seven whose name escaped Edward. 

"What is this, the All Souls Night gathering?" Ella jeered.

"Shut your mouth, little girl," Reina snapped, leaning on one hip while resting a hand on it. Edward's hair deepened in color from orange to brick red, the way it did when he was angry. Ella gave him a short glance.

"Mazrim is listening in on this conversation," she said slowly, letting the words take effect, "so I would watch what you say, _old woman_."

The Seven representative made a startled sound while Reina's crimson eyes slightly widened, the reaction concealed poorly as she flipped her snow white hair. Anger was evident for a few seconds before she suppressed it. She almost swore that she heard Mazrim himself chuckling with approval. None of the fayth made any sort of move to show they were surprised—they probably weren't.

"Where is Auron?" asked Shiva. She didn't seem to be angry with her for breaking out.

"Ender got to him first."

Shiva's eyes glazed over as she most likely communicated her answer to Bahamut, but the others recoiled in horror. This time no one made a move to conceal their shock.

"No…that's terrible!" exclaimed the man from the Seven.

"That is _more_ than terrible," added Reina.

"Please tell us that you're joking!"

Edward shook his head. "We are not."

"How did you fail to reach him in time?" asked the white-haired woman.

"Ender planted a false signal," Ella explained. "When I found it, it knew that it was a fake since I found nothing."

Reina glanced toward the massive pile of glass. "Did you slow down because you assumed that it was close?"

"No," Ella replied. "The signal continued to change. I didn't understand what it was doing at all. It leapt all over Spira and then stopped here, where it stayed. But it changed slightly after it landed here. I think Auron actually was moving, but was captured as soon as he got here."

"What should we do?" asked the Farplane Lord.

"Obviously, now that Auron is as close to safe as he can be in Ender's hands, Ender will take advantage of the lull in fighting spirit that has accompanied Sin's defeat," Reina explained. "What he will do, we don't know. All we can be sure of is that _this_ is what he created Sin to do. This one lasting moment in time was Sin's entire _raison d'etre_. Ender will not let a thousand years of buildup and eventual success to go to waste."

They all exchanged glances and fell silent, mentally calculating the consequences of Sin's defeat. Ella stepped forward.

"We need to warn the living of what is possibly in store for them," she said. "That's who Ender wants revenge on, after all. They need to be ready for anything."

"And what of Auron?" asked Valefor. Ella thought for a moment before replying.

"We will wait for a weak spot in Ender's guard," she said, "because we can't try to get him back head-on. We all know that we'll get our asses royally kicked."

They all nodded in reluctant agreement. "When the time comes," Reina continued for her, "we will steal Auron back."

"But until then, we need a truce." Ella stepped to the middle of the tense circle. "This won't work if we can't cooperate. And as you know, a _lot_ depends on this working." She held out her hand. "Truce?"

Edward put his hand over hers, saying nothing. The fayth nodded and added their hands, and the Seven representative harrumphed and did the same. Reina hesitated a moment longer, then added her pale palm to the pile. "Truce," she said, "And as much as I don't like it, hopefully it will stay intact even after all of this is over."

They looked into each other's eyes, smiling. For the first time that Edward could remember, the Farplane had been united.

* * *

What a surprise it was when Auron came stumbling, blank-faced and soulless, right into Ender's home! 

Except that it wasn't.

Ender smiled, assuming the role of a jolly homeowner who had just received a guest. "Auron, my pawn!" he greeted, gliding over with his arms spread wide. "I'm so _thrilled_ that you could make it."

Auron stopped after taking three steps, losing solid form as the wall behind him became more visible. Ender couldn't help but smile wider as he waved a hand in front of the former guardian's face, getting no response whatsoever. Also no surprise.

"You took out your life force, didn't you, little one?"

No reaction.

"You're lucky that I can't afford to lose you, little one," Ender continued, not bothered by the fact that he was essentially talking to a wall. "I'm going to give you a present."

He put a hand over his heart and drew out a blue pyrefly surrounded in black. "See this?" He waved it in front of Auron's nose. "It's _my_ life force."

Ender lifted his other hand, and a red ball of light appeared. With little concentration, Ender formed it into a knife. "I've decided that I'll give you a little bit of it," he said, the words strained as he held the knife of Balefire to the pyrefly.

Hesitating out of greed, Ender quickly brought it down and pushed it all the way through until it cut into his hand. He winced with pain and the knife vanished, but he had been successful; he now held two halves of a life force.

The one in his right hand sank into his body; Ender took one last look at Auron's blank expression.

"This might hurt," Ender warned, "a lot."

Without another moment wasted, he drew back and shoved the pyrefly half into Auron's chest. The effects took place immediately; Auron became completely solid. Thought returned, his memories returned, his emotions returned. Being only human, that was pretty much an overload of information. The first thing that he did was blinked, and then fell to his knees. His entire body burned again, paralyzing him to no end. He screamed more than once.

It took a long time for him to settle down and realize where he was. When he finally did, though, he shot to a stand and took a step or two back.

"Now," Ender started, beginning to circle Auron, "my past pawns have not been as obedient as they should have been. They refused to heed me, and so I taught them how to be docile." Ender and Auron had switched places; now Ender was closest to the door, blocking his exit. "Am I going to have to teach you how to be docile?"

Auron obeyed his very first instinct:

Run.

Turning and finding the doors under the double-staircase, he pushed them opened and dashed through. Ender sighed behind him, "That's a yes."

Auron found a long hall behind those doors, and his inhuman speed made the lamps on the walls whiz by in streaks of light. He looked up to see a second floor, and leaped.

Spikes shot from the wall with insane speed, giving him very little time to dodge. He avoided one and landed on another before it withdrew into the wall again, leaping off of that one as he avoided several more. He landed safely on the second floor, pushing off again.

Chains made from the wall itself tried to net him, but he launched himself into the air and dove through each gap in the net, swinging over one when it was low enough. The chains began to move behind him, imitating snakes and slithering after him as he ran. The lamps' flames grew higher, soaring toward him Noticing a third floor and noting how Ender's home was like one giant staircase, he kicked off and landed with no trouble or obstacles on the way.

This floor was peaceful, but he ran to its end anyway. Finding a door there, he yanked it open and slid in, pulling it tightly shut behind him. He smashed in the doorknob on his way, too.

Sighing and leaning his forehead against the door to catch his breath, he took some time to make sure his adrenaline stayed to the maximum. Of course, he didn't have any trouble with that. As soon as he turned around and took a step further into the room, he analyzed the new hell he'd entered.

The ceiling was quite high above, and the whole room was white with an unidentifiable light source. His breath caught; he had just entered something close to what could have been anything from a dog pound to a very frightening zoo.

Cages set in a marble-like material Auron didn't recognize were stacked in an organized fashion all the way to the roof, each having the height of a chocobo and the width of four of five chocobos standing side by side. The contents were concealed by such dark shadows that he could only assume that if there was anything in each one, it was hiding.

And there was something in each one. Auron strayed too close to one and a massive creature leaped at him from the other side of the bars, slamming into the material so suddenly that Auron jumped a few feet to the side. His eye widened as he defined the creature.

It was an Unsent. Angry and hungry for human blood, and fully transformed, to boot. It grasped at its barrier with overgrown claws, and Auron couldn't see how it had had enough space to hide in.

That was just the beginning. As he looked into each prison, the creatures became more and more pitiful and grotesque. There was a grey hypello that resembled a human woman; the two bulbs on the side of her neck bulged and shrank as she struggled to breathe.

A small child had been given wings, but what remained of them now were only stubs; a person was halfway transformed into their Unsent form, on arm and one leg overgrown so much that they were unable to stand without essentially kneeling. The places at which the deformed limbs joined were swollen with misaligned veins.

A human had been combined with a chocobo and was either sleeping soundly or dead. A person made of stone had become a realistic statue at the back of their cage, their face frozen in anger and sadness and fear. Next he saw a man without skin—at least, it lay in flaps on the cage floor when he wasn't trying to put it back on.

Another person seemed to be made of water and was unable to keep their form for more than two seconds before they sloshed to down to a big puddle, rising slowly for another hopeless attempt. There was one that even sweated and salivated blood—he vomited the thick red substance as Auron passed.

He once came upon cage where the person inside seemed to be perfectly fine, but then they looked up and he felt bile rise to his throat; they had already possessed naturally green eyes, and someone had carved spirals into them.

Each of these pitiful victims all had one thing in common. No matter what they were made of, be it water or stone or chocobo, they all had a dog tag attached somewhere to their body. Auron assumed that each said the same thing as the one that he had found on the Unsent in Zanarkand.

"Do you like them?" Ender asked from behind, causing Auron to whip around. "I spent a lot of time working on them all. I treasure them as if they were my own children…"

"You're a madman," Auron spat. "What sort of person does this to people?"

"This sort of person," Ender said, pointing to himself, then to the wall behind Auron. "Have you seen the cage all the way at the back?"

He had. It was the largest of them all, taking up the entire height and width of the room. Auron blinked, and suddenly Ender stood right next to him. "That one's for you."

Before he could react, Ender delivered a punch to his stomach that was so strong, it sent him flying all the way across the rest of room and into said cage. Lamps lit as he landed on his stomach and slid several feet to a stop. Something had been broken, Auron thought as he struggled to his knees and an unsteady stand. Ender appeared at the exit, which sealed itself shut.

He snapped his fingers, and wall-chains emerged and cuffed Auron's legs and arms and neck, trapping him for good.

"I'm going to make you wish that your father had never stolen that first kiss from your mother, little one."

Auron attempted to scream, but no such sound came.

* * *

**Two years later**- 

The sweet moan of pyreflies was a sound that Rikku had not heard in a long, long time—even if it did seem like only yesterday. Her breath caught at the sight of the Farplane below, as did everyone else's. They had forgotten how truly beautiful the place had remained. The former guardians and summoner were instantly glad that they'd come.

Rikku reached into the pouch on her thigh and retrieved the glass shard, taking a deep breath. The others tensed; Yuna stood closer to Tidus, and Lulu to Wakka. Kimahri just grew stiff, and Rikku walked to the edge of the platform and held the shard to the blue moon in the distance.

It reacted exactly as described. The moon shone brightly and briefly and a beam of light extended out to where she stood, solidifying and forming a translucent staircase. A smile momentarily lit up her face as she turned to the others, and they made her assume her more serious expression. They all looked hesitant and nervous, thinking the same thing: they did not belong here. The shouldn't go any further.

Rikku turned away and looked back at the moon. She didn't care if the others were scared and wouldn't follow. She took the first step on the staircase, and then the second. She didn't care if she had to leave them behind.

This was her story, and she was going to get her favorite character back.


End file.
